Residing in poverty tied to worse breast cancer outcomes

Women residing in persistently impoverished neighborhoods have worse breast cancer outcomes, according to a study published online Aug. 29 in JAMA Network Open.

J.C. Chen, M.D., from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, and colleagues examined persistent neighborhood poverty and breast tumor characteristics, surgical treatment, and mortality. The analysis included 312,145 women (aged 18 years and older) diagnosed with stage I to III breast cancer from 2010 through 2018.

The researchers found that 6.4 percent of women lived in a census tract with persistent poverty, which was associated with a greater likelihood to present with more aggressive tumor characteristics, including higher-grade disease, triple-negative breast cancer, and advanced stage. More patients residing in areas with persistent poverty underwent mastectomy and axillary lymph node dissection. Higher risks for breast cancer-specific and all-cause mortality were seen with living in persistent poverty (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.10 and 1.13, respectively). Mortality risks diverged for both breast cancer-specific and all-cause mortality as early as three years after diagnosis (rate ratios, 1.80 and 1.62, respectively).

“Living in neighborhoods characterized by persistent poverty had implications on tumor characteristics, surgical management, and mortality,” the authors write.

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