Introduction: In 2020, breast cancer was the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the United States. Despite detection and treatment advancements, a racial disparity exists. Laterality has been implicated to affect breast cancer prognosis. The objective of the study was to assess whether laterality modifies the association between race and survival in breast cancer patients. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study using secondary data analysis from the SEER Program. Participants were included based on breast cancer diagnosis, age, laterality confirmation and race identification. Exclusion criteria was lack of race classification and bilateral involvement of the breast. The independent variable was race/ethnicity. The dependent variable was five-year cause-specific mortality. Covariates included year; age, grade, and stage at diagnosis; surgical treatment; tumor size; breast subtype; and marital status. Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests were used to compare the patients’ cause-specific survival curves across race/ethnicity. Cox regression was used to calculate the unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Laterality did not modify the association between race/ethnicity and survival. Moreover, there was no association between laterality and 5-year mortality (HR 1.0; 95% CI 0.98-1.02). However, after adjusting for covariates, the 5-year HR among Blacks was 51% higher compared with Whites (HR 1.51; 95% CI 1.48-1.55), while Asian Pacific Islanders had a 17% lower hazard of death (HR 0.83; 95% CI 0.80-0.86). Conclusion: The study results are useful for clinicians when counseling patients on the statistics that come into play with their breast cancer diagnosis and their individual demographics. Future research should expand on the effects of race and specific breast cancer subtype mortality. Additionally, breast cancer awareness and health promotion should be increased within minority racial groups.
Keywords: Laterality. Race. Ethnicity. Breast cancer survival. Breast cancer mortality.
Considerando o rápido crescimento das Doenças Crônicas não Transmissíveis no Brasil e no mundo aliada a pandemia da COVID-19, o Mestrado Profissional em Saúde e Gestão do Trabalho (Univali) em parceria com a Rede de Vigilância em Doenças Crônicas das Américas - AMNET (AMERICAS’ NETWORK FOR CHRONIC DISEASE SURVEILLANCE) e apoio da Universidade Pontifícia Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Universidade Internacional da Flórida (EUA), Universidade de Antioquia (Colômbia) e pela Universidade Mar del Plata (Argentina) promoveram o I SIMPÓSIO DE DOENÇAS CRÔNICAS: perspectivas, tendências e inovação & XVIII CONFERÊNCIA INTERNACIONAL DA REDE AMNET, o qual foi realizado nos dias 22, 23 e 24 de setembro de 2021, gratuitamente e de modo virtual. Foram momentos de socialização em experiências de ensino, pesquisa e inovação, nas dimensões epidemiológica e social, com a integração interinstitucional de caráter nacional e internacional, para o desenvolvimento de ações com vistas a redução da morbimortalidade das principais doenças crônicas.
