Racial disparities in breast cancer diagnosis in Central Georgia in the United States

Advances in breast cancer science, early detection, and treatment have resulted in improvements in breast cancer survival but not in breast cancer incidence. After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in the United States. Each year, nearly a quarter million U.S. women receive a breast cancer diagnosis, and the number continues to rise each year with the growth in the population of older women. Although much remains to be understood about breast cancer origins and prevention, action can be taken on the existing scientific knowledge to address the systemic factors that drive breast cancer risk at the population level. The California Breast Cancer Research Program funded a team at Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP) to convene leaders in advocacy, policy, and research related to breast cancer prevention from across the state of California. The objective was the development of a strategic plan to direct collective efforts toward specific and measurable objectives to reduce the incidence of breast cancer. The structured, innovative approach used by BCPP to integrate scientific evidence with community perspectives provides a model for other states to consider, to potentially change the future trajectory of breast cancer incidence in the United States.

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Mammography screening after breast cancer diagnosis in a first degree female relative: age group differences (United States)

Cancer Causes & Control ◽

10.1007/s10552-006-0039-1 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 17 (8) ◽

pp. 1053-1065 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Stephenie C. Lemon ◽

Jane G. Zapka ◽

Lynn Clemow ◽

Barbara Estabrook ◽

Ken Fletcher

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

United States ◽

Cancer Diagnosis ◽

Mammography Screening ◽

Breast Cancer Diagnosis ◽

Group Differences ◽

Age Group ◽

Relative Age ◽

Female Relative

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Racial Disparities in Triple Negative Breast Cancer: A Review of the Role of Biologic and Non-biologic Factors

Frontiers in Public Health ◽

10.3389/fpubh.2020.576964 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Om Prakash ◽

Fokhrul Hossain ◽

Denise Danos ◽

Adam Lassak ◽

Richard Scribner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

United States ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Racial Disparities ◽

Triple Negative Breast Cancer ◽

Triple Negative ◽

The United States ◽

Poor Survival ◽

Potential Interactions ◽

Biologic Factors

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer that lacks expression of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2). TNBC constitutes about 15–30 percent of all diagnosed invasive breast cancer cases in the United States. African-American (AA) women have high prevalence of TNBC with worse clinical outcomes than European-American (EA) women. The contributing factors underlying racial disparities have been divided into two major categories based on whether they are related to lifestyle (non-biologic) or unrelated to lifestyle (biologic). Our objective in the present review article was to understand the potential interactions by which these risk factors intersect to drive the initiation and development of the disparities resulting in the aggressive TNBC subtypes in AA women more likely than in EA women. To reach our goal, we conducted literature searches using MEDLINE/PubMed to identify relevant articles published from 2005 to 2019 addressing breast cancer disparities primarily among AA and EA women in the United States. We found that disparities in TNBC may be attributed to racial differences in biological factors, such as tumor heterogeneity, population genetics, somatic genomic mutations, and increased expression of genes in AA breast tumors which have direct link to breast cancer. In addition, a large number of non-biologic factors, including socioeconomic deprivation adversities associated with poverty, social stress, unsafe neighborhoods, lack of healthcare access and pattern of reproductive factors, can promote comorbid diseases such as obesity and diabetes which may adversely contribute to the aggression of TNBC biology in AA women. Further, the biological risk factors directly linked to TNBC in AA women may potentially interact with non-biologic factors to promote a higher prevalence of TNBC, more aggressive biology, and poor survival. The relative contributions of the biologic and non-biologic factors and their potential interactions is essential to our understanding of disproportionately high burden and poor survival rates of AA women with TNBC.

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