Journal: NPJ breast cancer
This study used SEER data over nearly 50 years to examine how breast cancer mortality patterns have shifted by age, race/ancestry, and molecular subtype.
Key findings:
- Mortality burden by age: Mortality burden has moved over time from predominantly older to relatively younger women, indicating a changing risk landscape by age.
- Young Black women with triple‑negative disease: In contemporary data (2010–2022), young Black women with triple‑negative (HR-/HER2-) breast cancer have markedly elevated mortality risk, reinforcing their status as a critically vulnerable group.
- Asian women under 50 with triple‑negative disease: Asian women are also at high risk: those under 50 years with triple‑negative disease experience disproportionately poor outcomes, highlighting an under‑recognized disparity.
- Contributing factors to survival differences: The authors suggest that biological, hormonal, and sociodemographic factors likely contribute to these intergroup differences in survival.
- Shifts in demographic composition: Demographically, the proportions of Asian and Hispanic women with breast cancer have steadily increased and now exceed that of Black patients, indicating important shifts in the population burden.
Overall, the work emphasizes that age, ancestry, and tumor subtype jointly drive survival disparities and should be explicitly incorporated into prevention efforts, diagnostic strategies, and treatment planning to reduce inequities in breast cancer outcomes.