Clinical Stage of Breast Cancer and Socioeconomic Status in General Pueyrredón, Argentina, 2013

Abstract

iNTRODUCTION: Differences in survival of women with breast cancer (BC) in regions with bad socioeconomic (SE) indicators may be explained through the access to health services and the coordination between diagnosis and treatment. OBJECTIVES: To identify epidemiological and clinical differences for BC diagnosis according to public (PU) or private (PR) health care sector in General Pueyrredón (PGP), Buenos Aires, during 2013. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed, focusing on invasive BC cases diagnosed in 2013 in women living in PGP. The variables were: health care sector, clinical stage and age at diagnosis. A logistic regression model was adjusted with stage at diagnosis as dependent variable (grouped as early and advanced) and PU or PR health care sector as independent variable, controlling by age. RESULTS: A total of 413 cases were identified: 11.4% PU and 88.6% PR. Of them, 63% were diagnosed in early stages. The PU sector showed a risk of advanced stage 4.4 (OR) times higher (p=0.001) and lower average age than the PR sector (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The increased risk of advanced stage in PU sector could be related to multiple causes including barriers to early diagnosis and behavioral factors. The lower average age in PU sector women could be partly attributed to the lower percentage of old women and to under-diagnosis in this group. This study provides valuable population-based information to understand social inequalities that affect the attention of BC.