Health-related quality of life in Black breast cancer survivors with and without triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Abstract

Black women are more likely to develop early-onset (≤50years) breast cancer (BC) and have the lowest five-year, cause-specific survival rate of any United States (U.S.) racial or ethnic group. These disparities can be attributed partially to the higher rate of triple-negative BC (TNBC) in Blacks. Yet, little is known about health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Black women with TNBC. Black women with invasive BC≤50years were recruited via the Florida Cancer Data System as part of a population-based case-only study of etiology and outcomes of early-onset invasive BC. Of 460 consented participants, a subset of 355 self-reported sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables. Descriptive analyses included participants with known TNBC (n=85) or non-TNBC (n=245) disease. Univariable and multivariable analyses were conducted to examine differences in factors associated with HRQOL. In unadjusted analyses, TNBC participants had significantly lower FACT-B total scores (90.1±27.9) compared to non-TNBC (98.5±27.6) participants (p<0.05). For the TNBC group, multivariable analyses indicated five individual-level, and three systemic-level factors explain 80% of the response variation in HRQOL. For the non-TNBC group, seven individual-level factors and three systemic-level factors account for 76% of the variation in HRQOL scores. Compared to Black women with non-TNBC, TNBC women have worse HRQOL. There are key individual and systemic-level factors that are unique to both groups. Findings can inform future HRQOL interventions to support young Black BC survivors.