title: Racial disparities in survival and age-related outcome in postsurgery breast cancer patients in a new york city community hospital.
abstract: Breast cancer survival has significantly improved over the past two decades. However, the diagnosis of breast cancer is lower and the mortality rate remains higher, in African American women (AA) compared to Caucasian-American women. The purpose of this investigation is to analyze postoperative events that may affect breast cancer survival. This is a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from The Brooklyn Hospital Center cancer registry from 1997 to 2010. Of the 1538 patients in the registry, 1226 are AA and 269 are Caucasian. The study was divided into two time periods, 1997-2004 (period A) and 2005-2010 (period B), in order to assess the effect of treatment outcomes on survival. During period A, 5-year survival probabilities of 75.37%, 74.53%, and 78.70% were seen among all patients, AA women and Caucasian women, respectively. These probabilities increased to 87.62%, 87.15% and 89.99% in period B. Improved survival in AA women may be attributed to the use of adjuvant chemotherapy, radiation, and hormonal therapy. Improved survival in Caucasian patients was attributed to the use of radiation therapy, as well as earlier detection resulting in more favorable tumor grades and pathological stages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, 121 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA.
authors.forename: Stacey
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3738-7694
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martindale
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, 121 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA ; Department of Surgery, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Center City Campus, 111 South 11th Street, PA 19107, USA.
authors.forename: Awinder
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, 121 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA ; Department of Surgery, Westchester Medical Center, New York Medical College, 100 Woods Road, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, 121 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, 121 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA.
authors.forename: Amer
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Homsi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, 121 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA.
authors.forename: Haidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, 121 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Go
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, 121 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pappas