Women with breast cancer in rural U.S. areas have experienced worsening survival and mortality compared with women in metropolitan areas, according to two studies led by the American Cancer Society (ACS).
The studies will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Care Symposium, October 16 and 17 in Boston.
In the first study, researchers analyzed data from the National Cancer Database on over 2.8 million women newly diagnosed with breast cancer between 2010 and 2023. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, women in nonmetropolitan areas had a 3.4% higher rate of death than those in large metropolitan areas from 2010 to 2016, a gap that grew to 9.3% from 2017 to 2023, the team found. The team also observed patterns across racial groups.
The second study used cancer registry and mortality data from 1995 to 2023. Researchers found that breast cancer mortality rates were lower in rural areas than in urban areas from 1995 to 1999, but the trend reversed, with rural rates exceeding urban rates by 2018 to 2023.
Longer travel distances, fewer oncology specialists, and limited access to screening, diagnosis, and treatment are among the barriers facing rural patients, the ACS highlighted.
