Racial disparities in physical and functional domains in women with breast cancer (original) (raw)

2011, Supportive Care in Cancer

Purpose-This analysis compared white and African-American BC survivors' (BCS) health status, health related quality of life and the occurrence of physical impairments after BC treatment. Methods-166 women (130 white, 28 African-American, 8 other) were assessed for impairments preoperatively and at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12+ months post surgery. Health status was assessed at 12+ months using the Short Form Health Survey (SF36v2™). Analysis of variance estimated differences between groups for health status and impairment occurrence. Results-No differences were found between groups for BC type, stage, grade, or tumor size; surgery type; or number of lymph nodes sampled. African-American BCS had more estrogen/ progesterone receptor-negative tumors (p < 0.001; p = 0.036) and received radiation more frequently (p = 0.03). More African-American BCS were employed (p = 0.022) and reported higher rates of social activities (p = 0.011) but less recreational activities (p = 0.020) than white BCS. African-American BCS had higher rates of cording (p = 0.013) and lymphedema (p = 0.011) postoperatively. No differences were found in self-reported health status. Conclusion-In a military healthcare system, where access to care is ubiquitous, there were no significant differences in many BC characteristics commonly attributed to race. African-American women had more ER/PR-negative tumors; however, no other BC characteristics differed between racial groups. African-American women exhibited more physical impairments although their BC treatment only differed regarding radiation therapy. This suggests that African-American BCS may

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