Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC): Analysis of age and stage distribution and survival between African American and Caucasian women in a predominant low-income population.

Abstract

e12586 Background: Triple negative breast cancers (TNBC) represent roughly 15% of all breast cancer and are associated with decreased overall survival. A higher incidence of TNBC has been seen in younger and African American patients. We investigated the effect of age and race relative to outcomes of patients with TNBC seen at a state charity hospital system. Methods: This retrospective review identified 194 pts with TNBC diagnosed between 1993-2011 at LSUHSC-Shreveport, a state charity hospital. TNBC was defined as ER/PR both <1% and HER2neu not overexpressed by FISH analysis. The patient’s race, age at diagnosis, stage at diagnosis, treatment, relapse free survival (RFS), overall survival and survival following confirmed metastatic disease were analyzed. Results: There was no statistical difference in frequency of stage between groups. Although not statistically significant, there was a trend to worse RFS in AA and in young pts of both races. Younger age at diagnosis did have an inferior median survival as compared to older pts regardless of race or stage (p=0.0476). There was no difference in median survival following confirmation of metastatic disease between races (p=0.3574) or between age groups (p=0.8548); (median survival = 31 mos, 2.56-204 mos). Conclusions: In a predominantly low income patient population the incidence of TNBC was higher in the AA and in the young (age ≤ 50) as expected. There was no difference in stage or frequency within the populations. However, outcomes appeared to be worse in the younger pts and in AA patients with higher recurrence rate. Survival following first recurrence was similar regardless of age and race. Further analysis of etiologies for racial and age disparities is needed. [Table: see text]