Cancer Publishes HealthCore Breast Cancer Treatment Disparity Study on Women with Commercial Insurance, Confirming Previous Stud
16 Février 2010 - 7:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
Study confirms treatment disparities exist between white and
African-American women WILMINGTON, Del., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ --
Cancer, the peer-reviewed international journal of the American
Cancer Society, has published a study conducted by HealthCore, Inc.
in its Jan. 1 edition, demonstrating disparities in breast cancer
treatment between commercially insured African-American and white
women. The HealthCore study reiterates the findings of previous
studies -- conducted in populations using government health
programs -- that African-American women are diagnosed in later
stages of the disease. Breast cancer is the second most common
cause of cancer death in white and African-American women in the
United States. "This study demonstrates that disparities in breast
cancer care exist even when patients have access to
employer-provided healthcare," said Dr. Joe Singer, HealthCore vice
president for clinical affairs. "A key takeaway from our study is
that African-American women were diagnosed with breast cancer at
younger ages, but in later stages of breast cancer, when chances of
survival diminish greatly." The study, funded by Amgen, was
conducted in collaboration with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Georgia and the American Cancer Society. HealthCore is working with
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia and the American Cancer
Society to further evaluate the study to understand more about the
women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer so the health plan
can determine better ways to communicate with them and their
physicians in an attempt to diminish the disparities. The
HealthCore study also found that not all women who tested positive
for hormone receptor cancer received anti-estrogen therapy, which
is a standard of care set by guidelines established by the National
Comprehensive Cancer Network and the American Cancer Society. Of
those women who did test positive, white women were more likely
than African-American women to receive anti-estrogen therapy.
Specifically, the study found: -- White women (55.2 percent) were
more likely than African-American women (38.4 percent) to be
diagnosed with stage 0 or stage I disease. -- Twice as many
African-American women (6.1 percent) compared with white women (3.6
percent) were diagnosed with stage IV disease. -- Among women who
tested positive for hormone receptor cancer, African-American women
were less likely to receive treatment, such as aromatase inhibitors
or tamoxifen. -- White women were twice as likely to receive
anti-estrogen therapy compared with African-American women, after
adjusting for age, cancer stage, and social economic status. "While
treatment for depression and anxiety occurred in both groups, less
than half of those women had notes in their medical charts to
follow-up with their primary care physician and only one women was
referred to a mental health professional," said Dr. Otis Brawley,
chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society and study
co-author. "Clearly, this is a health intervention needed for both
African-American and white women." About the study The study pool
of 3,017 women was identified from a medical claims database with
information extracted from medical chart data on 766 women. Of
those patients who had race data, 79.8 percent were white and 16.6
percent were African-American. Health plan claims data were then
linked to information abstracted from medical charts to measure
age, use of medications and to obtain detailed clinical information
regarding their breast cancer and co-morbid medical conditions
present at the time of the breast cancer diagnosis. HealthCore also
collected data on the cancer-specific treatment received, adverse
events, supportive care and oncologist follow-up communication with
primary care physicians. About HealthCore HealthCore, based in
Wilmington, Del., is the clinical outcomes research subsidiary of
WellPoint. HealthCore has a team of highly experienced researchers
including physicians, biostatisticians, pharmacists,
epidemiologists, health economists and other scientists who study
the "real world" safety and effectiveness of drugs, medical devices
and care management interventions. HealthCore offers insight on how
to best use this data and communicates these findings to health
care decision-makers to support evidence-based medicine, product
development decisions, safety monitoring, coverage decisions,
process improvement and overall cost-effective health care. For
more information, go to http://www.healthcore.com/. DATASOURCE:
HealthCore; WellPoint, Inc. CONTACT: Media, Lori McLaughlin,
+1-317-488-6898, or +1-317-407-7403, Web Site:
http://www.healthcore.com/
Copyright