Breast cancers linked to Idaho's Women's Health Check program were significantly more likely than nonlinked cancers to be diagnosed at a later stage of disease, a new study suggests.
The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) provides access to breast and cervical cancer screening for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women in all states and US territories. In Idaho, a rural state with very low breast and cervical cancer screening rates, this program is called Women's Health Check (WHC).
Consistent with national NBCCEDP estimates, fewer than 15 percent of women eligible for WHC are currently served by the program, report researchers.
Researchers from the Cancer Data Registry of Idaho and Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, used data fromIdaho's central cancer registry to compare stage distribution, type of surgery, and cause-specific survival between women with WHC-linked breast cancer and a comparison group of women whose records did not link to the WHC database.
Researchers found that WHC-linked breast cancer was significantly more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage of disease than nonlinked breast cancer. Because of differences in stage distribution between WHC-linked and nonlinked breast cancers, overall age-standardized, cause-specific breast cancer survival rates diverged over time, with 5.1 percent worse survival among WHC-linked cases at a follow-up of 5 years.
"This study suggests that health care disparities may exist for Idaho WHC enrollees in the timely diagnosis of breast cancer and that these disparities drive overall differences in type of surgery and cause-specific survival," researchers report. "This study also illustrates the power of linkages between central cancer registries and NBCCEDP databases for quality improvement, program assessment, and monitoring population health."