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In a study that is among the first to examine the role of race in the pain experience of metastic breast cancer patients, it was discovered that on a scale of 1 to 10, non-white women reached a pain level of 7 or higher significantly sooner then white women.

 Dr. Liana Castel of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and colleagues conducted the study which is published in the January 1, 2008 issue of CANCER. It included 1,124 women with metastic breast cancer and bone metastases. All of the participants received standard treatment in an international chemotherapy clinical trial conducted between October 1998 and January 2001. Women in 19 countries were involved. 82% of the Caucasians were from the United States.

The women were tested frequently over a one year period using the Brief Pain Inventory scale which considers severe pain as 7 or higher. The authors of the study say that the fact that non-white women reached 7 faster confirms published evidence that they are at highest risk for under treatment of pain, including inadequate dosing and poor access to medication. Racial and ethnic minority patients have also been shown to be a greater risk for breast cancer mortality.

Dr. Castel and her colleagues concluded that reasons for the racial disparities should be investigated and in addition “clinicians should use information about known risk factors to inform more aggressive and earlier intervention among non-Caucasian women with metastic breast cancer.”

SOURCE: The American Cancer Society, peer-reviewed journal Cancer Nov. 2007.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 2:11 pm and is filed under Breast Cancer, Cancer / Oncology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.