B. P. Townsend1, K. Miller1, Q. Chu1 1LSU Health,Surgery,Shreveport, LA, USA
Introduction: African-American (AA) women have a higher breast cancer mortality rate than Caucasian (C) women, despite having a lower incidence rate. There is a paucity of data examining whether such a disparity exists among patients with stage III breast cancer who were treated at an open access, academic, charity hospital.
Methods: 135 patients with stage III breast cancer were identified from a prospective breast cancer database. All had standardized treatments. Primary endpoint was death from any cause. Overall survival (OS) was calculated from date of diagnosis to date of death or date of last follow-up. Statistical analyses included log-rank test, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and Cox Proportional Hazard Model. A p ≤ 0.05 was deemed statistically significant.
Results: 83 patients (61%) were AA. Comparing the two groups, there were no differences in t-stage distribution (p=0.18), nodal distribution (p=0.73), tumor grade (p=0.43), hormone receptor statuses (p=0.06), and HER-2 status (p=0.81). The 5-year OS for AA and C was 41% and 44%, respectively (p=0.34). On multivariate analysis, only HER-2 was a predictor of OS (p=0.04).
Conclusion: Race/ethnicity has no impact on outcome of patients with stage III breast cancer who were treated at an open access, academic cancer center.
