Association between African American race and outcomes in patients with nonmetastatic triple-negative breast cancer: a retrospective analysis by using results from the Georgia Cancer Specialist Database.
BACKGROUND
The objective of this study was to evaluate, in a real-world context, the impact of race on disease recurrence and survival in patients with nonmetastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) treated with adjuvant chemotherapy.


METHODS
The study selected patients from the 2003-2008 Georgia Cancer Specialist Database with stage I-III confirmed TNBC who had received adjuvant chemotherapy. These patients were followed-up from initial diagnosis to death, cancer recurrence, or loss to follow-up. The primary outcome was disease-free survival (DFS). Kaplan-Meier curves compared DFS and recurrence between African American and non-African American groups. The impact of African American status was examined further through multivariate Cox models by adjusting for age, comorbidity, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, initial TNBC stage, surgery, and radiation therapy.


RESULTS
Among 209 patients with TNBC, 89 (42.6%) were African American. The 2 groups (African American vs. non-African American) were similar in mean age at diagnosis (53.2 vs. 54.4 years; P =.487) and with surgery and radiation rates (98.9% vs. 100%; P = .244; 68.5% vs. 62.5%; P = .365, respectively). Compared with non-African Americans, African American patients had a higher BMI (30.4 vs. 28.6 kg/m(2); P = .0477) and were less likely to be diagnosed at stage I (31.5% vs. 51.7%; P = .0107). The African American patients had a lower 5-year DFS rate (45.2% vs. 79.7%; P = .0005) and a higher 5-year recurrence rate (42.5% vs. 7.0%; P = .0005) compared with the non-African American patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Among patients with TNBC treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, African American race was associated with a worse outcome irrespective of later stage at presentation or higher BMI.
Division of Hematology & Oncology, Medical University of South Carolina, Hollings Cancer Center, Charleston, SC 29403, USA. christn@musc.edu
Neal
N
Christiansen
Lei
L
Chen
James
J
Gilmore
David
D
Pechar
Stephen
S
Szabo
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents