Neighborhood changes in concentrated immigration and late stage breast cancer diagnosis.
Immigrant women are at greater risk for late stage breast cancer diagnosis. The rapid increase in the US foreign-born population and new immigration patterns lead us to investigate the association between changes in immigrant population and the likelihood of distant metastasis stage at diagnosis of breast cancer among women in Cook County, Illinois. Analyses employed Illinois State Cancer Registry data for 42,714 breast cancer cases diagnosed between 1994 and 2003 in conjunction with 1990 and 2000 Census tract data. We find that concentration of and increases in immigrant populations within neighborhoods contributed to the risk of late stage breast cancer diagnosis. These findings suggest that, although some health indicators for immigrant populations have improved in recent years, important health disparities in breast cancer diagnosis still remain at the neighborhood level. They further suggest that cancer screening and follow-up resources should be directed to areas experiencing rapid increases in immigrant populations.
University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA. youngcho@uic.edu
Young Ik
YI
Cho
Timothy P
TP
Johnson
Richard E
RE
Barrett
Richard T
RT
Campbell
Therese A
TA
Dolecek
Richard B
RB
Warnecke
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012042:Registries; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D055815:Young Adult