Wealthy More Likely to Have Breast Reconstruction

Black women less likely than white women to have reconstruction after mastectomy

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

Related Encyclopedia • Adenocarcinoma of the Lung and Brain Metastases • Amenorrhea • Amniocentesis • Amniocentesis and CVS More... Related Healthscout Videos A Welcome Message from Survivor PJ Hamel Smother Says "Cut!" Maryann and Paula When's the Next Free Mammogram Day? October 17, 2008!!! More... Related Animations • Breast Reduction • Breast Self-Exam Video • Colon Cancer • Erectile Dysfunction More... Related Drug Information • Actonel • Detrol LA • Diflucan • Ditropan XL More... Related News Articles • Caring Through Sharing -- Life Changing Stories • Gene Predicts Childhood Leukemia Relapse • Gene Linked to Poor Breast Cancer Outcomes • Gender Defines Activity for Kids, Elders More...

MONDAY, Nov. 17 (HealthDay News) -- After a mastectomy, wealthier women are more likely to have immediate breast reconstruction than their poorer counterparts, Johns Hopkins University researchers report.

This is also true for more educated women and women who don't live in inner cities. Overall, black women and those who live in predominantly black neighborhoods are less likely to undergo breast reconstruction.

Text Continues Below

---

"The community a patient lives in actually does influence, in some way, the access they have to breast reconstruction," said lead researcher Dr. Gedge D. Rosson, an assistant professor of plastic surgery. "We need to learn more about why that is."

Rosson isn't sure why these disparities exist. "There must be bias in some way," he said.

"People have noticed that African-Americans have fewer referrals to plastic surgeons, and if they do have a referral, they have a lower rate of going to those referrals," Rosson said. "Strangely, even once they see the plastic surgeon, reconstruction seems to be offered with less frequency."

Another reason these women may not opt for breast reconstruction is the belief that it is cosmetic surgery, Rosson said. "Maybe they have an unconscious aversion to it or something like that," he said.

Rosson noted that this is a community effect, so that even a white patient living in a poor black neighborhood is less likely to undergo immediate breast reconstruction.

The report is published in the November issue of the Archives of Surgery.

For the study, Rosson's team collected data on 17,925 black and white women who had a mastectomy between 1995 and 2004. The researchers also analyzed data of the communities the women lived in. Among these women, 27.9 percent had breast reconstruction immediately after their mastectomy.

The researchers found that black women were 47 percent less likely to have breast reconstruction. Other factors that signaled not undergoing breast reconstruction were being older, living in inner cities with a high black population, and having a high school education or less.

Page:  1 | 2 | Next >>