Please read Dr. Goldman’s article in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention titled, “Neighborhood Social Environmental Factors and Breast Cancer Subtypes among Black Women“
In the United States, incidence rates of aggressive types of breast cancer, including estrogen receptor-negative (ER−) and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), are highest in African American/Black women (hereafter, ‘Black women’. The risk of TNBC continues to be approximately twice as high among Black women as White women, which contributes to the large racial disparity in breast cancer mortality. Although TNBC is associated with germline BRCA1 mutations, the incidence of BRCA1 mutations is lower among Black than White women, suggesting there are other mechanisms that promote more aggressive breast cancer phenotypes among Black women. While earlier studies have focused on individual-level socioeconomic status (SES) as a major social determinant of breast cancer outcomes, neighborhood social environmental factors may impact breast cancer phenotypes beyond what can be attributed to individual-level SES. To read the full article.
Neighborhood Social Environmental Factors and Breast Cancer Subtypes among Black Women. Qin B, Babel RA, Plascak JJ, Lin Y, Stroup AM, Goldman N, Ambrosone CB, Demissie K, Hong CC, Bandera EV, Llanos AAM. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2021 Feb;30(2):344-350. DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-20-1055 . PMID: 33234556; PMCID: PMC7867587.