A research study that will be presented at the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium conducted at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York points out that despite advances in therapies which significantly lower breast cancer mortality rates over the years, the decline in mortality in Black women continues to lag behind other groups. Black women with breast cancer continue to have lower survival rates compared to non-Hispanic white women. The study investigated the differences in clinical and socioeconomic characteristics between Blacks and Whites and evaluated their prognostic value on long-term outcomes.
The researchers conducted a retrospective, population-based analysis utilizing the Surveilance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database studying breast cancer from 1975-2017. Demographic and clinical data were analyzed by race and the associations of race with disease-specific survival were analyzed via univariate and multivariable analyses using COX regression models. 816,763 patients in total were analyzed ( n=720, 144, White, n = 966, 19 Black) and it was found that Black patients were younger in age (median age 7 years vs 62 years), presented with a higher tumor stage (III/IV; 25% VS 16.3%) and higher tumor grade (III/UV; 52.2% VS 35.3%).
Medhavi Gupta, Rohit Gosain, Maithreyi Sarma, Stuthi Perimbeti, Kristopher Attwood, Wenyan Ji, Shipra Gandhi and Yara Abdou. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY
