Register for Pre-existing conditions and treatment are related to breast cancer survival
Cancer Research Center HawaiiOctober 22, 2003
2003 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pre-existing conditions and treatment are related to breast cancer survival.
According to recent research from the United States, "The purpose of this study was to examine factors contributing to the ethnic discrepancies in breast cancer survival described previously.
"Through the use of the Hawaii Tumor Registry and insurance claims data, 1,052 breast cancer patients' survival times were examined in relation to demographics, disease characteristics, comorbidity, and treatment patterns as compared to national guidelines for breast cancer treatment," wrote G. Maskarinec and colleagues, Cancer Research Center Hawaii, Honolulu.
"In stepwise and hierarchical Cox regression models, TNM stage was the strongest predictor of survival and explained all of the ethnic survival differences. In addition, comorbidity and treatment patterns were significant in predicting survival," the researchers wrote.
"In this population of health plan members, ethnic differences in survival were not a result of differential treatment, but due to variations in early detection. These results support the hypothesis that pre-existing conditions and treatment patterns are related to breast cancer survival even after controlling for stage at diagnosis indicating the usefulness of insurance claims data in this research field," the researchers concluded.
Maskarinec and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology (Influences of ethnicity, treatment, and comorbidity on breast cancer survival in Hawaii. J Clin Epidemiol, 2003;56(7):678-685).
For additional information, contact G. Maskarinec, Cancer Research Center Hawaii, 1236 Lauhala St., Honolulu, HI 96813, USA.
Publisher contact information for the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology is: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd., the Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK.
The information in this article comes under the major subject area of Oncology. This article was prepared by Biotech Week editors from staff and other reports.
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