Black women may be less likely to receive prompt treatment for breast cancer

New research suggests that black women have longer waits for the start of treatment than white women after a breast cancer diagnosis, and the duration of treatment is longer. The findings were published early online at Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society (ACS).

Previous research has shown that black women face a higher risk of dying from breast cancer than white women despite similar rates of breast cancer incidence, and this disparity is especially high among younger women. A team led by Melissa A. Troester, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center evaluated whether two aspects of care, time to treatment and duration of treatment treatment, may be contributing factors.

The researchers’ analysis included 2,841 participants (roughly the same number of black and white women) with stage I-III breast cancer in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, a population-based study of women with invasive breast cancer.

The median total time to initiation of treatment was 34 days. More black women experienced a delay in treatment time (13.4 percent vs. 7.9 percent) and a prolonged duration of treatment (29.9 percent vs. 21.1 percent) compared to women white.

Thirty-two percent of young black women were in the highest quartile for duration of treatment, compared with 22.3 percent of younger white women; similarly, 27.9 percent of older black women experienced a prolonged duration of treatment compared to 19.9 percent of older white women.

Also, among women with a high socioeconomic status, 11.7 percent of black women experienced delays in starting treatment compared to 6.7 percent of white women.

“Even among women of low socioeconomic status, we continue to see fewer lags among white women, underscoring the disparate experience of black women, who seem to experience unique barriers,” said lead author Marc Emerson, Ph.D.

“It is important to recognize that the causes of delay are complex and reflect both individual barriers and system-level factors,” added Dr. Troester. The study identified a number of specific barriers, including financial and transportation issues.