ASPO Abstracts
Breast Cancer Treatment and Survival for Women with Autoimmune Diseases: Findings from a South Carolina Retrospective Cohort Investigation
Category: Cancer Health Disparities
Conference Year: 2019
Abstract Body:
PURPOSEAutoimmune diseases (ADs) are among the top ten leading causes of death for women under the age of 65. These diseases present both tumor promoting and tumor suppressing factors, however, little is known regarding cancer survival and treatment among AD patients. This study aimed to explore the effects of varying cancer treatment regimens in relation to breast cancer survival among AD and non-AD patients.METHODSWomen diagnosed with breast cancer (BrCA) between the years 2002 to 2010 were identified through the South Carolina Central Cancer Registry and linked to administrative databases. We identified 2928 BrCA patients of which 599 had an AD. Kaplan Meier and Cox regression models were used to test for associations between AD and survival within varying levels of cancer treatment modalities.RESULTSAmong patients taking chemotherapy, BrCA survival was significantly greater for those with AD compared to those without an AD (92% vs. 82%, respectively, p-value < .01). However, AD patients who did not receive chemotherapy had a significantly lower survival compared to non-AD patients (87% vs 97%, respectively, p-value < .01). A similar finding was observed among patients not receiving radiation, with a survival rate of 88% and 91% for AD and non-AD patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONA small survival advantage was noted among AD patients compared to non-AD patients when either chemotherapy or radiation therapy was utilized. After adjusting for other factors, these differences were no longer significant. With few clinical trials being conducted on the immunocompromised population, future studies are needed to determine a standard of care within the AD population.
Keywords: treatmentautoimmunitybreast cancersurvival