The following is a summary of “Racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in diagnosis, treatment, and survival of patients with breast cancer,” published in the JANUARY 2023 issue of Surgery by Azin, et al.

For a study, researchers sought to ascertain the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) and race/ethnicity on breast cancer prognosis.

Patients with non-metastatic breast cancer in the SEER cancer registry between 2007 and 2016 were subjected to a retrospective study, including non-Hispanic Black (NHB), non-Hispanic White (NHW), and Hispanic.

Patients were identified in a total number of 382,975. Compared to NHW patients, NHB patients had a higher likelihood of having a more advanced stage of the disease (OR 1.18, 95% CI: 1.15-1.20), and Hispanic patients had a higher likelihood (OR 1.20, 95% CI: 1.17-1.22) of doing so. For NHB (OR 1.07, 95%CI: 1.03-1.11) and Hispanic patients (OR 1.60, 95%CI: 1.54-1.66), there was a higher risk of not having breast reconstruction. In addition, all-cause death was more likely to occur in NHB patients (HR: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.10-1.16). Across SES levels, all-cause mortality increased (lower SES: HR 1.33, 95%CI 1.30-1.37; intermediate SES: HR 1.20, 95%CI 1.17-1.23).

The population-based analysis revealed that socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic differences were associated with worse illness presentation, access to surgical therapy, and survival. In addition, the differences were made worse by deteriorating SES and insurance coverage.

Reference: americanjournalofsurgery.com/article/S0002-9610(22)00448-2/fulltext