Ethnic disparities in breast cancer: A comprehensive analysis of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics among African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian women.

Abstract

e13698 Background: Despite advancements in breast cancer therapy leading to a decline in mortality rates within certain ethnic populations, there exists a concerning trend of increasing cancer incidence among African American (AA) and Hispanic women. This persistent rise highlights the urgent need to explore and comprehend the socio-demographic and breast cancer characteristics specific to these populations. Methods: We assembled a 10-year database of women diagnosed with breast cancer in the community hospital in Chicago. After excluding minority ethnic groups, specifically AA, Hispanic, and Caucasian cohorts were included in this study, comprising 786 patient records analyzed. Results: The distribution revealed a predominance of AA patients at 49.7%, Hispanics at 42.1%, and Caucasians at 8.14%. Noteworthy differences across the three ethnic groups were observed in age categories at cancer diagnosis, BMI categories, family history of first-degree relatives with breast cancer, marital status, smoking habits, menopausal status, and alcohol use at the time of diagnosis (p < 0.05). Within the molecular subtypes, 14.5% were identified as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), with a higher prevalence of 18.7% among the AA subgroups. 19.6% of patients had advanced disease, proportion was higher in AA ethnic group (22.8%; p = 0.83) compared to other ethnicities. Breast conservative procedures were prevalent in almost half of the patient population on average (52.1 %), with a slightly higher frequency of mastectomies noted in the Hispanic patient group (44.1%, p < 0.05). In logistic regression analysis, compared to the reference AA ethnicity, Hispanics exhibited higher odds of having HER-2 positive breast cancer (OR 1.74; CI 1.04 – 2.94; p < 0.05), as did Caucasians (OR 2.35; CI 1.05 – 5.04; p < 0.05). Conclusions: In summary, our study underscores substantial socio-demographic and breast cancer characteristic differences among AA and Hispanic populations compared to Caucasians, revealing notable ethnic disparities in breast cancer. Despite these variations, our findings highlight promising healthcare equity, with comparable access to surgical and chemotherapy interventions across ethnicities. TNBC demonstrates molecular heterogeneity and a higher prevalence among AA women, contributing to significant racial disparities.