Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities Are More Pronounced in Inflammatory Breast Cancer Than Other Breast Cancers

• Authors: Ryan A. Denu, University of Wisconsin Madison; John M. Hampton, University of Wisconsin Madison; Adam Currey, Medical College of Wisconsin; Roger T. Anderson, University of Virginia School of Medicine; Rosemary D. Cress, UC Davis School of Medicine; Steven T. Fleming, University of Kentucky; Joseph Lipscomb, Emory University; Xiao-Cheng Wu, LSU Health Sciences Center School of Public Health; J. Frank Wilson, Medical College of Wisconsin; Amy Trentham-Dietz, University of Wisconsin Madison
• Journal Title: Journal of Cancer Epidemiology
• Volume: Volume 2017
• Publisher: Hindawi Publishing Corporation | 2017-01-01, Pages 7574946-7574946
• Type of Work: Article | Final Publisher PDF
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7574946
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Oncology; Health Sciences, General

Abstract

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare yet aggressive form of breast cancer. We examined differences in patient demographics and outcomes in IBC compared to locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) and all other breast cancer patients from the Breast and Prostate Cancer Data Quality and Patterns of Care Study (POC-BP), containing information from cancer registries in seven states. Out of 7,624 cases of invasive carcinoma, IBC and LABC accounted for 2.2% (N=170) and 4.9% (N=375), respectively. IBC patients were more likely to have a higher number (P=0.03) and severity (P=0.01) of comorbidities than other breast cancer patients. Among IBC patients, a higher percentage of patients with metastatic disease versus nonmetastatic disease were black, on Medicaid, and from areas of higher poverty and more urban areas. Black and Hispanic IBC patients had worse overall and breast cancer-specific survival than white patients; moreover, IBC patients with Medicaid, patients from urban areas, and patients from areas of higher poverty and lower education had worse outcomes. These data highlight the effects of disparities in race and socioeconomic status on the incidence of IBC as well as IBC outcomes. Further work is needed to reveal the causes behind these disparities and methods to improve IBC outcomes.