Religious activities are shown to correlate with rates of psychological depression symptoms in a sample of 995 African American and white elderly residents of Nashville. The data, collected in face-to-face interviews, included indicators of both public and private religiosity. Levels of religiosity and perceived social support were higher among the African-American respondents than among others, and among female respondents. Separate regression analyses of the racial groupings, which appeared to have distinctive religious subcultures, generally show that perceptions of social support mediate the relationship between levels of religiosity and symptoms of depression.
Objective: Breast cancer (BC) incidence is reported to have declined in the nation. However, the role of depression on hospital costs for BC by race remains unknown. In this presentation, we examine two issues: (i) prevalence of BC with comorbid depression among discharged hospital patients; (ii) racial variation in the effect of co-morbid depression on hospital costs of BC patients.
Methods: We extracted data on depression and breast cancer from the 2008 Tennessee Hospital Discharge Data System (HDDS). The BC sample (n=2,523) patients were mostly white (86%) with an average age of 63 years. We computed age-adjusted BC prevalence rates per CDC methodology, and compared the hospital costs for BC patients with vs. without depression.
Results: Age adjusted BC rates (per 100,000) were higher among white than black patients (92.2 vs. 43.3, p<.000). Nearly one-fourth (23%) of BC patients had depression (no racial differences: (25% white vs. 24% black BC patients). Hospital costs for BC patients were 17% higher compared to non-BC patients, and cost was 55% higher among BC patients with co-morbid depression compared to non-depressed BC patients ($64,439 vs. $41,344). The higher cost for depressed BC patients was similar across both white and black BC females.
Conclusion: BC is higher among white females compared to black females. BC patients cost with depression tended to be significantly higher compared to non-depressed patients regardless of race. Since nearly one-fourth of BC patients were depressed with higher hospital cost, these results point to possible significant costs savings by treating depression before the need for hospitalization among BC patients.
Citation Format: Baqar A. Husaini, Oscar Miller, Meggan Novotny, Robert Levine. Racial similarities in the effects of depression on hospital cost of breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4218. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4218
Objective: The effect of depression on hospital costs for breast cancer (BC) patients by race remains unknown. This presentation examines two issues by race: (i) hospitalized prevalence of BC and depression among discharged patients, and (ii) racial variation regarding the effect of depression on hospital costs of BC patients.
Methods: For BC, available 2008 Tennessee Hospital Discharge Data System (HDDS) was examined. The BC sample (n=2,522) was mostly white (86%) with an average age of 63 years. We computed age-adjusted BC rates per CDC methodology, and determined racial disparity. We compared the hospital costs for BC patients with depression (BC+D) vs. without depression (BCND).
Results: Age-adjusted BC rates (per 100K) were higher among white than black patients (43.3 vs. 9.2, p<.001). Further, 25% of BC patients were depressed (depression was higher among white than black patients [26% vs. 14%, p<.01]). Hospital costs for BC were 30% higher compared to non-BC patients. Further, the cost for depressed patients (BC+D) was 56% higher compared to nondepressed (BCND) patients ($64,439 vs. $41,344). Importantly, the higher costs for depressed patients (BC+D) were similarly higher among both black and white female patients compared to their nondepressed (BCND) peers.
Conclusion: BC prevalence rate is higher among white females compared to black females. Depression increases hospital costs for both white and black patients. Since depression increased cost for both racial groups of patients, considerable cost savings might be attained by screening and treating depression among BC patients before their hospitalization.
Citation Format: Baqar Husaini, Oscar Miller, Jessica Jones, Robert Levine. Racial disparity in breast cancer hospital treatment costs: Examining the effect of depression [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Tenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2017 Sep 25-28; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2018;27(7 Suppl):Abstract nr A69.
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