Socioeconomic deprivation is commonly used to study the effects of deprivation and poverty on healthcare. Although breast cancer is known to be linked to socioeconomic deprivation and living in rural areas, the relationship between occurrence of breast cancer diagnosis and socioeconomic conditions is not clearly understood.
Investigators examined the correlation between diagnosis of early- and late-stage breast cancer and socioeconomic background in 14,542 French women. Socioeconomic status was determined by location of residence and information from the European Deprivation Index, which was used to create 4 categories: affluent-urban, affluent-rural, deprived-urban, and deprived-rural. Compared with the affluent-urban group, women whose socioeconomic status was deprived-rural had an increased diagnosis of advanced-stage breast cancer and lower frequency of early-stage breast cancer at <74 years of age. Associations by breast cancer stage were not present for women aged >74 years.
The results of the study suggest late-stage diagnosis is most likely associated with women aged ≤74 years with deprived-rural socioeconomic background. The results did not reveal any disparities in the incidence rates of advanced breast cancer based on socioeconomic background in any age class.
Source: Ariza JM, Cowppli-Bony A, Billon S, et al. Socioeconomic background in relation to stage at diagnosis in women with breast cancer. American Society of Clinical Oncology Virtual Meeting; June 4-8, 2021. Abstract 10574.