Breast cancer stage at diagnosis: Caucasians versus Hispanics

In the Department of Defense health care system,all women have the same ability to accesshealth care. Thus, there should be no racialdifferences in stage at diagnosis solely based onability to seek health care. A retrospective reviewof breast cancer cases from 1980–1992 was conductedto determine if there were any differences instage at diagnosis between Caucasian and Hispanic females.Data was available for 6134 Caucasian and 182Hispanic females. Although not statistically significant, Hispanic femaleshad fewer Stage I (41% versus 53%) andmore Stage IIA (37% versus 28%) breast cancersthan Caucasian females. Hispanic females had statistically fewertumors 1 cm (p < 0.001). Caucasianfemales were older (median age 58 years) atpresentation than Hispanic females (median age 51 years).Significantly (p = 0.002) more Hispanic females (44%)were < 50 years old compared to Caucasianfemales (28%). When access to care is notan issue, Hispanic females tended to present ata more advanced stage although this did notreach statistical significance. Hispanic females with breast cancerwere significantly younger than Caucasian females.