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BackgroundThe objective of this study is to examine racial differences in receipt of low‐value surgical care and time to surgery (TTS) among women receiving treatment at high‐volume hospitals.MethodsStage I–III non‐Hispanic Black (NHB) and Non‐Hispanic White (NHW) breast cancer patients were identified in the National Cancer Database. Low‐value care included (1) sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) among T1N0 patients age ≥70 with hormone receptor–positive cancers, (2) axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in patients meeting ACOSOG Z0011 criteria, and (3) contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) with unilateral cancer. TTS was days from biopsy to surgery. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were used to compare the groups.ResultsCompared to NHWs, NHBs had lower rates of SLNB among women age ≥70 with small hormone–positive cancers (NHB 58.5% vs. NHW 62.2% p < .001) and CPM (NHB 26.3% vs. NHW 36%; p < .001). ALND rates for patients meeting ACOSOG Z0011 criteria were similar between both groups (p = .13). The odds of surgery >60 days were higher among NHBs (odds ratio, 1.77; 95% confidence interval, 1.64–1.91; NHW ref).ConclusionsNHBs treated at high‐volume hospitals have higher rates of surgical delay but are less likely to undergo low‐value surgical procedures compared to NHW women.

Purpose Low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with advanced stage, lower-quality care, and higher mortality among breast cancer patients. The purpose of this study is to examine the association between neighborhood SES (nSES), surgical management, and disease-specific mortality in de novo metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. Methods MBC patients ages 18 to 85+ years diagnosed from 2010 through 2016 were identified in SEER. The cohort was divided into low, middle, and high nSES based on the NCI census tract-level index. Univariable and multivariable analyses were used to examine the relationship between nSES, surgery, and disease specific mortality in MBC patients. Results There were 24,532 de novo MBC patients who met study criteria, with 28.7 % undergoing surgery. Over the study period, surgery utilization decreased across all nSES groups. However, lower nSES was associated with a higher odds of undergoing surgery (low OR 1.25 [1.15–1.36] p < 0.001; middle OR 1.09 [1.01–1.18] p = 0.022; ref high). Living in an area with lower SES was associated with a worse disease specific mortality (low HR 1.24 [1.25, 1.44; ], middle 1.20 [1.1–1.29]: ref high). Specifically, there was a 9.26 month mean survival differences between the lowest (41.02 ± 0.47 months) and highest (50.28 ± 0.47 months) nSES groups. Conclusion These results suggest area of residence may contribute to differences in surgical management and clinical outcomes among de novo MBC patients. Future studies should examine the contributions of patient characteristics and preferences within the context of surgeon recommendations.

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