Race and Income Combo, Determines How Women Cope with Advanced Breast Cancer

The challenges of coping with advanced metastatic breast cancer has a lot to do with women’s race and income, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburg schools of Nursing and Medicine: compared to women from the other racial and economic groups, low-income African-American Women are more likely to report physical and social distress.

“One of the most striking findings is that just looking at race or income alone is not enough,” said Dr. Rosenzweig. “The unique combinations of race and income delineate important distinctions. For example, low-income white women and low-income African-American women do not seem to share the same level of symptom distress. Low-income African-American women may have more vulnerability coming into advanced illness, making the experience much more difficult for them, than it is for higher income African-Americans or white women.”

This study, which was presented at the 42nd American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Atlanta, points to the very crucial influence that care providers can have on improving outcomes for patients by tailoring care more appropriately to give women the right tools they need to better cope with advanced breast cancer.

Read more at UPMC News.