Abstract P4-03-42: Evaluating the Impact of Race and Body Mass Index on the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Early Onset Breast Cancer
Authors: Kordic Austin , Reyes Amanda , Ashai Nadia 
Published: March 2023

Background: Early-onset breast cancer is typically defined as a diagnosis of disease before age 40-45. Prior studies have shown interesting associations between race and obesity on the incidence and prognosis of breast cancer. Data from the SEER program at the National Cancer Institute has shown increased mortality amongst African American women (0.2%) compared to Non-Hispanic White (NHW) women (0.1%) who were diagnosed with breast cancer at age 45 years or younger. This is despite a similar risk of diagnosis between racial groups of this age range (1.27%, 1.27%). Other large studies have shown that African American patients tended to present with more advanced disease had worse clinical outcomes. Our study sought to determine the impact of race and obesity on the diagnosis and prognosis of early onset breast cancer amongst the patient population at Georgetown University Hospital (GUH). Methods: We compiled a database of all new patients, 652 in total, seen at Lombardi Cancer Center at Medstar GUH from 10/2020- 6/2022. We reviewed patient charts in the EMR and documented age at diagnosis, race, ethnicity, stage at diagnosis, and BMI. The BMI was categorized by underweight (BMI &lt; 18.5), healthy weight (BMI 18.5-24.9), overweight (BMI 25-25.9), obese (BMI 30-34.9), and morbidly obese (BMI ≥ 35). Stage at diagnosis was determined by comparing the pathology report with the NCCN guidelines version 4.2022. We identified 136 patients who were diagnosed at GUH at age 45 years old or younger and compared our findings to SEER data from 2017-2019. Results: Out of 136 patients who met our age criteria, 131 had racial data available: 29 AA (0.22), 68 NHW (0.52), 4 Hispanic (0.03), 30 Other (0.23). Out of the 34 patients with advanced disease (stage 3 and 4) 16 were NHW (0.47), 4 were AA (0.12), 2 were Hispanic (0.06) and 12 were Other (0.35). 131 patients had BMI data available: 5 underweight (0.04), 56 healthy weight (0.43), 41 overweight (0.31), 21 obese (0.16), and 8 morbidly obese (0.06). 18 patients with advanced disease were overweight or obese, out of which 11 were NHW (0.61), 3 were AA (0.16), 3 were Other (0.16), and 1 was Hispanic (0.06). Conclusion: In contrast with the SEER data, our study found that the patient population at GUH had a much higher proportion of Non-Hispanic White (NHW) patients who were diagnosed with advanced disease compared to African American (AA) patients. It also found a higher proportion of NHW patients amongst those who were diagnosed with advanced stage disease and were overweight or obese compared to AA patients. This data suggests that in our patient population, Non-Hispanic White women who were overweight or obese at the time of diagnosis of early onset breast cancer (≤ 45 years old) were more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stage disease than women in other demographic groups. It is possible that this discrepancy is related to racial variations in receptor status. Further investigation is required to correlate these associations in clinical practice with other known demographic variables and disease-specific risk factors in order to better understand how they impact the diagnosis and prognosis of early-onset breast cancer.

Citation Format: Austin Kordic, Amanda Reyes, Nadia Ashai. Evaluating the Impact of Race and Body Mass Index on the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Early Onset Breast Cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-03-42.