Racial clipping and socioeconomic status as social determinants of health in breast cancer diagnosis
Keywords:
breast cancer, women of African descent, racial inequality, health disparity, minorities and vulnerable populationsAbstract
The objective of this study was to investigate the possible associations between socioeconomic and race/color as social determinants of health for breast cancer diagnosis. The data of interest were sociodemographic, such as age, education, income, race/color self-reported as black (black and brown) and white, and clinical data, such as family history and diagnosis of breast cancer. Adult women with and without breast cancer participated with no age difference between the groups. And among those in the group of cases we observed lower education and income, higher percentage of self-declared black women, with no difference between groups for marital status. However, it was observed that black women without partners had lower per capita income than those with partners. In addition, black women were almost twice as likely to develop breast cancer compared to non-black women. In addition, black women with a partner were almost 2.1 times more likely when compared to white women with a partner. We conclude that socioeconomic factors and race are indeed important social determinants that relate to the development of breast cancer and endorse the need to strengthen existing public policies for the prevention and early treatment of the disease.
