Black women less likely to receive breast surgery follow-up

Black women are 1.36 times less likely to receive annual follow-up after breast-conserving surgery, and Medicare patients are 1.84 times less likely, according to research published August 5 in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

The study results demonstrate that sociodemogaphic disparities are in play when it comes to breast cancer surgery surveillance, wrote a group led by Dr. Derek Nguyen from Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.

Nguyen and colleagues conducted a study that included 1,082 women who had undergone breast-conserving surgery between 2011 to 2016. Of these, 715 (66.1%) complied with follow-up recommendations during the first three years after surgery (i.e., three annual follow-up visits).

But the investigators found that Black women were 1.36 times less likely to receive annual follow-up after breast-conserving surgery compared to their white counterparts. They also found that Medicare patients were 1.84 times less likely to receive annual follow-up compared with privately insured patients.

"[Our study found] that racial and financial disparities may represent barriers for [breast cancer survivors] to obtain consistent annual follow-up if multiple consecutive years of diagnostic mammography are requested," the group concluded.