Black women with breast cancer may be more likely than white women to experience delays in beginning breast cancer treatment, as well as a longer duration of that treatment, according to a study published online in Cancer Sept. 21.
Previous research has demonstrated that Black women face a higher risk of dying from breast cancer than white women despite similar rates of breast cancer occurrence, and that this disparity is especially high among younger women. The study was designed to evaluate whether two aspects of breast cancer care—time to treatment and duration of treatment—might be contributing factors on both fronts.
To conduct the study, a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chapel Hill, NC analyzed the course of care undergone by 2,841 women enrolled in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study Phase III. The latter is part of a population-based study of UNC Lineberger and UNC Gillings School of Global Health, launched in 1993 to investigate how the causes, treatments, and long-term outcomes of breast cancer differ between Black and white women.
All women whose cases were included in the analysis were between 24 and 74 years of age at the time of diagnosis with Stage 1, Stage 2, or Stage 3 breast cancer. Black women accounted for approximately half of the study subjects.
The overall median time to treatment initiation was 34 days. More Black women than white women were found to have experienced a delayed time to treatment (13.4% versus 7.9%) and a prolonged duration of treatment (29.9% versus 21.1%).
Some 32% of young Black women fell into the highest quartile of treatment duration, compared with 22.3% of younger white women. Similarly, 27.9% of older Black women were determined to have experienced prolonged treatment duration, compared with 19.9% of older white women.
In addition, among women with high socioeconomic status, 11.7% of Black women experienced delays in initiating treatment. Far fewer white women in this group (6.7%) were noted to have had the same.
“Even among women with low socioeconomic status, we still saw fewer delays among white women, underscoring the disparate experience of Black women, who appear” to encounter unique barriers, lead study author Marc Emerson, PhD, said in prepared remarks.
In the prepared statement, research team leader Melissa A. Troester, PhD, also emphasized the importance of recognizing that “the causes of delay are complex and reflect both individual barriers and system-level factors.” The research team identified a number of these factors, including financial and transportation issues, in conducting the study.