Abstract PO-167: Area-level social deprivation and stage at diagnosis among breast cancer patients in South Carolina

Abstract

Abstract Background: Cancer incidence, staging and mortality rates differ across geographic areas; however, there is a need for a better understanding of how neighborhood level socioeconomic and access to care factors impact cancer burden to tailor cancer control interventions in ways that appropriately target geographic determinants of cancer health disparities. The purpose of this study was to characterize the distribution of neighborhood deprivation in a cohort of breast cancer patients and examine the effect of social deprivation, healthcare professional shortage Area (HPSA) designation, and individual-level characteristics on breast cancer staging. Methods: We established a retrospective cohort of breast cancer patients diagnosed from 1996 to 2015 using the South Carolina Central Cancer Registry. Sociodemographic (e.g., race, age) and clinical variables were abstracted from the registry. We linked registry data to county-level variables to determine levels of social deprivation and residence in a health care professional shortage area using the Robert Graham Center’s Social Deprivation Index (SDI) and the Health Resources and Services Administration primary care HPSA designation. Bivariate analyses and multivariate regression analyses were used to examine associations. Results: The sample included 54,501 female breast cancer patients. Overall, the mean for SDI was 54.2 (+18.1) and the range was 76 (19-95). Approximately 44.4% of women lived in areas with high levels of social deprivation (e.g., SDI score of 52 to 95). In the logistic regression model, living in a geographic area with high social deprivation was significantly associated with African American race (OR=2.3, 95% C.I. 2.2-2.4), being unmarried (OR=1.2, 95% C.I. 1.1-1.3), and HPSA designation (OR=14.0, 95% C.I. 13.5- 14.6). Higher tumor grade (OR=1.2; 95% CI.1.2-1.3) and later stage (OR=1.1, 95% C.I. 1.1-1.2) were also significantly associated with neighborhood deprivation. Conclusion: This study shows that SDI differs by race and clinical characteristics among breast cancer patients. The SDI could be integrated into tumor registries and cancer research to understand the effects of neighborhood level variables on cancer health disparities to improve the precision of cancer control interventions that are developed to address geographic determinants. Citation Format: Andrew B. Lawson, Chanita Hughes-Halbert, Oluwole A. Babatunde, Whitney E. Zahnd, Jan M. Eberth. Area-level social deprivation and stage at diagnosis among breast cancer patients in South Carolina [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2020 Oct 2-4. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(12 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-167.