Authors: Kevin M Gorey Isaac N Luginaah Kendra L Schwartz Karen Y Fung Madhan Balagurusamy Emma Bartfay Frances C Wright Uzoamaka Anucha Renee R Parsons
Publish Date: 2008/03/11
Volume: 113, Issue: 3, Pages: 595-600
Abstract
Purpose This study examined whether race/ethnicity had differential effects on breast cancer care and survival across age strata and cohorts within stages of disease Methods The Detroit Cancer Registry provided 25997 breast cancer cases African American and nonHispanic white older Medicareeligible and younger noneligible women were compared Successive historical cohorts 1975–1980 and 1990–1995 were respectively followed until 1986 and 2001 Results African American disadvantages on survival and treatments increased significantly particularly among younger women who were much more likely to be uninsured Within node positive disease all treatment disadvantages among younger African American women disappeared with socioeconomic adjustment Conclusions Growth of this racial divide implicates social rather than biological forces Its elimination will require high quality health care for allThis research was supported in part with funds from the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance Canadian Institutes of Health Research CIHR grant no MOP67161 the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant no 41020020173 and the National Cancer Institute National Institutes of Health contract no N01PC 65064 as well as CIHR and Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care investigator awards and an associated CIHR partnership appointment respectively to its first sixth and second investigators We gratefully acknowledge the research and technical assistance of Sharon Munro Mathew Chandler and Nancy Richter respectively of the University of Windsor’s Library Information Technology Services and School of Social Work
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