Study finds increased risk of triple negative breast cancer in black women

An analysis of nearly 200,000 patients who had mammograms between 2006 and 2015 in three U.S. health care systems highlights the importance of understanding the heterogeneity of breast cancer risk factors in women of race, age, and age. different disease subtypes. The study, led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was published in Cancer medicine.

The cohort consisted of 29,822 (15%) black women -; a historically under-studied group in cancer research. More strikingly, the researchers found that black women had an almost three times higher risk of triple negative breast cancers, which have a poor prognosis. Although black women are known to have a higher risk of this type of breast cancer, the magnitude of risk found in this study had an impact, given its full adjustment for breast cancer risk factors. breast in a screened population.

Additionally, researchers found that triple negative breast cancers were less likely to be detected by screening and more likely than other subtypes to be diagnosed as interval cancers. Higher breast density was associated with an increased risk of all four tumor subtypes, with a stronger association in premenopausal women for ER / PR + HER2- and TNBC.

In a separate study led by the same group, researchers looked further at the risk factor in black women. They found that breast density was more strongly associated with TNBC than with other subtypes, and that obesity was associated with a higher risk of TNBC in this group. These findings were published in Research and treatment of breast cancer.

The available risk prediction models are about 60 percent accurate in predicting breast cancer risk. In our studies, we see clear differences in risk factors between these types of breast cancer, and we need to do a better job of identifying how we can accurately predict risk for women, especially women of color. . “

Anne Marie McCarthy, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania