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Understanding the Association of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Breast Cancer Among African American and European American Populations in South Carolina

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Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

In South Carolina, the co-occurrence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and breast cancer (BrCA) is much more prevalent among African American populations than among European American populations. The underlying relationship between diabetes and breast cancer may influence breast cancer survival. The purpose of this investigation is to examine the effect of diabetes on developing breast cancer and to reduce racial disparities in breast cancer outcomes.

Methods

Study participants included women of European American (EA) and African American (AA) ethnicity from both the Medicaid ICD-9 designations and the South Carolina Central Cancer Registry (SCCCR). A historical prospective cohort design was used to determine the risk of developing breast cancer among women of different ethnicities with and without DM. The chi-square test was used to determine the significance of the association; the logistic model was used to assess the relationship between breast cancer and other factors among EA and AA women.

Results

Menopause may have protective properties for AA compared to EA women. AA women have twice the odds of not surviving from each breast cancer stage compared to EA women with respect to their breast cancer stage. Adherence to diabetes medication may contribute to lower breast cancer death in EA.

Conclusion

This study illustrates the discrepancy between EA and AA women in terms of breast cancer survival. AA women bear a higher disease burden than EA women. To create ethnic-appropriate public health policies, it is imperative that we understand the effect of comorbidities on breast cancer and how we can prevent them from occurring.

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Abbreviations

AA:

African American

EA:

European American

SC:

South Carolina

BrCA:

Breast cancer

T2DM:

Type 2 diabetes mellitus

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Prevention & Control Program, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene Street, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Marsha E Samson, Swann Arp Adams & James R. Hebert

  2. Department of Epidemiology & Biostatics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

    Marsha E Samson, Olubunmi Orekoya & James R. Hebert

  3. College of Nursing, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

    Swann Arp Adams

Authors
  1. Marsha E Samson
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  2. Swann Arp Adams
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  3. Olubunmi Orekoya
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  4. James R. Hebert
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marsha E Samson.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Department of Defense (W81XWH-04-1-0703), the National Cancer Institute (U54 CA153461; JR Hébert, P.I.) and by a NIH research training grant (T32-GM081740).

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Samson, M., Adams, S.A., Orekoya, O. et al. Understanding the Association of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Breast Cancer Among African American and European American Populations in South Carolina. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 3, 546–554 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-015-0173-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-015-0173-0

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