A recent study published in JAMA Network Open highlights that women living in persistently impoverished neighborhoods experience worse outcomes in breast cancer.

Notably, 6.4% of the women studied were from areas characterized by persistent poverty, which was linked to more aggressive tumor characteristics.

Conducted by J.C. Chen, M.D., the research analyzed data from 312,145 women diagnosed with stage I to III breast cancer between 2010 and 2018.

These women were more likely to present with higher-grade tumors, triple-negative breast cancer, and advanced stages of the disease.

Additionally, patients from impoverished neighborhoods underwent more surgical procedures, including mastectomy and axillary lymph node dissection.

The study found that living in persistent poverty significantly increased the risks of breast cancer-specific and all-cause mortality, with adjusted hazard ratios of 1.10 and 1.13, respectively.

Mortality risks began to diverge as early as three years post-diagnosis, showing rate ratios of 1.80 for breast cancer-specific mortality and 1.62 for all-cause mortality.

The authors emphasize that the impact of living in neighborhoods with persistent poverty extends to tumor characteristics, surgical management, and overall mortality outcomes.