Understanding Racial Differences in Survival Among Women with Breast Cancer

To better understand why black women have poorer breast cancer outcomes than white women, investigators analyzed Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)–Medicare data from 7400 black women and 100,000 white women with breast cancer diagnoses between 1991 and 2005. Women were matched in three sets based on demographics (age, year of diagnosis, and SEER site), presentation (comorbidities and tumor biology), and treatment.

The demographics match showed that 5-year survival was 12.9% lower among black women than white women. This difference was 4.4% when presentation characteristics were added to the match and 3.6% when treatment was added. Treatment differences accounted for only 0.8% of the 12.9% survival disparity; however, the inte…