Breast Cancer Hits Hispanics Harder

Ivanhoe Newswire
Monday, April 9, 2007; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Hispanic women are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced breast cancer than Caucasian women, and the reason probably lies in their ethnicity and genes.

A new study out of Colorado compared breast cancer in 139 Hispanic women and 2,118 non-Hispanic women who were all receiving similar health care services through the same health plan. Researchers looked at women receiving similar services, like screening mammography and regular primary care, to address previous research suggesting more advanced cancer in Hispanics may be due to poorer access to care.

The results of the new study did not support this theory. Despite equal care, Hispanic women were more likely to be diagnosed with more advanced forms of breast cancer at younger ages than non-Hispanic women. On average, Hispanic women were around 56 years old when their cancer was found, while non-Hispanic women were closer to 61 years old. After adjusting the findings to take age at diagnosis into account, the researchers found Hispanic women were three-times more likely to have stage IV disease. They were twice as likely to have larger tumors with characteristics indicating a poor outcome.

"Despite equal access to health care services, differences persist in the size, stage, and grade of breast cancer for Hispanic women compared with [non-Hispanic women]," write the authors. "Future research should more carefully explore differences in clinical presentation as well as biologic differences in tumor genotypes and phenotypes, as different strategies for breast cancer prevention may then be warranted for Hispanic women."

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SOURCE: CANCER, published online April 9, 2007