Tamara Thomas

Urban Health Today

Black women with cancer in one breast are less likely than white women to undergo prophylactic mastectomy to have the unaffected breast removed, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.Studies have shown that prophylactic mastectomy is a deeply personal decision decision, often influenced by factors like anticipated physical, emotional, cosmetic, and financial outcomes of surgery.Although reports reveal preventive mastectomy is disproportionately lower among Black patients, it is unclear to what degree patient factors drive these disparities vs hospital factors.For this study, Amulya Vadlakonda, a third-year medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and colleagues evaluated how patient vs hospital factors affected women&rsquo;s choice of receiving contralateral prophylactic mastectomy.The researchers examined the data of nearly 598000 women in the National Cancer Database from 2004 to 2020. Of the participants, 71000 (12%) were Black.Patients undergoing mastectomy for nonmetastatic ductal or lobular breast cancer were tabulated using the National Cancer Database from 2004 to 2020.The study revealed that overall, Black women were about 35% less likely to undergo preventive mastectomy, and the likelihood was about 17% lower at largely Black-serving hospitals. The researchers acknowledged that the chances of getting preventive mastectomy were lower for everyone treated at these hospitals, but Black women faced an even bigger drop in the likelihood compared to White women.The fact that these differences persist in Black-serving hospitals &ldquo;suggest these racial disparities to be encoded structurally,&rdquo; the researchers noted.&ldquo;We need to examine the systems-level factors affecting the care of Black women and address the deeper causes of structural racism to ultimately lead to equitable outcomes for all patients,&rdquo; Vadlakonda added in a UCLA news release.&nbsp;The researchers also found that women who received prophylactic mastectomy had a better chance of surviving longer. Specifically, the surgery was linked to a 16% lower risk of dying from breast cancer over time.The researchers called for further research and education to examine surgeon-specific and institutional practices in patient counseling and shared decision-making contributing to disparities in preventive mastectomy access.&ldquo;The wide variation in the utilization of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy across hospitals suggests that there is poor standardization in practice, which disproportionately affects Black patients,&rdquo; Vadlakonda added. &ldquo;We hope our findings will empower all patients to have open discussions with their doctors about the treatments that would be right for them.&rdquo;Source: <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2024-04-11/preventive-mastectomy-less-common-for-black-women-with-breast-cancer">US News</a>Journal: <a href="https://journals.lww.com/journalacs/abstract/2024/09000/current_status_of_contralateral_prophylactic.5.aspx">Journal of the American College of Surgeons</a>&nbsp;

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Black Women With Breast Cancer Less Likely to Undergo Preventive Mastectomy, Study Finds

Breast Cancer Disparities

reports reveal preventive mastectomy is disproportionately lower among Black patients

Black Women with Breast Cancer Less Likely to Undergo Preventive Mastectomy, Study Finds

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