Abstract 590: Marital status and survival among breast cancer patients

Abstract

Abstract Background: Recent evidence suggests improved survival for married breast cancer patients compared with unmarried patients, but unclear is whether this survival benefit extends to socioeconomically disadvantaged women. We aimed to assess the association between marital status and breast cancer survival among socioeconomically disadvantaged breast cancer patients and breast cancer patients from the general population. Methods: We used data from the John Peter Smith (JPS) Oncology Registry, which comprises cancer patients in Tarrant County, TX treated at a safety-net institution, and the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR), a statewide population-based registry. Our eligible population included females aged 18 – 64 years diagnosed with primary breast cancer between January 2008 and June 2013 with follow-up through 2016. We categorized marital status into three groups: single, married, or separated/divorced/widowed. We estimated the 36-month restricted mean survival time, which allows survival comparisons within a specified period. Results: Our study populations comprised 614 JPS and 32,985 TCR patients. The age distribution at diagnosis was similar for both groups (JPS: median=51 years; TCR: median=52 years). JPS patients were more often non-White (JPS=62%; TCR=42%) and uninsured (JPS=56%; TCR=9.6%). A higher frequency of TCR patients were married (TCR=65%; JPS=39%). Survival was shorter for JPS patients (JPS=33.1 months; TCR =34.8 months) after 36-months (Table 1). Married women had longer survival than unmarried women in both populations. Conclusion: Our results suggest similar magnitudes of improved survival for married women with breast cancer compared with unmarried women in both populations, but socioeconomically disadvantaged patients have consistently lower survival estimates across marital subgroups compared with patients from the general population. Our findings warrant further studies that explore mechanisms of how marital status influences breast cancer survival in different populations. Table 1. Restricted mean survival time (RMST) after breast cancer diagnosis based on marital statusDisadvantaged Cancer PatientsaCancer Patients from General PopulationbRMSTc (months)Difference in RMST (95% CLd) (months)RMST (months)Difference in RMST (95% CL) (months)Separated/Divorced/Widowed32.2-0.89 (-2.8, 1.0)34.10.01 (-0.23, 0.25)Married33.80.56 (-0.96, 2.1)35.10.54 (0.36, 0.71)Single33.00 (Reference)34.10 (Reference)aCancer patients from JPS Oncology RegistrybCancer patients in the Texas Cancer RegistrycBased on 36-month restricted mean survivaldCL: Confidence limits Citation Format: Yan Lu, Bradford E. Jackson, Bassam Ghabach, Rohit P. Ojha. Marital status and survival among breast cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 590.