Abstract P4-14-11: National trend in African American women breast cancer research productivity from 1992-2012
Authors: Wynn Ralph T , Chow Daniel S , Mango Victoria L , Friedlander Lauren C , Ha Richard 
Published: May 2015

INTRODUCTION: Despite extensive progress in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment over the past 20 years, African American women suffer disproportionate breast cancer morbidity and mortality. In 1998, breast cancer deaths among African American women were 28% higher than in white women and the five-year survival rate for African American women was 71% compared with 86% for white women. The purpose of this bibliometric study is to assess our national research efforts to combat this racial disparity by analyzing breast cancer research productivity in the United States focusing on African American women from 1992 to 2012.

METHODS: This retrospective bibliometric analysis of public data was exempt from Institutional Review Board approval. Articles with "Breast Neoplasm" as a major medical subject heading (MeSH) term published between 1992 and 2012 were identified in the National Library of Medicine MEDLINE database. In addition, articles with "African Continental Ancestry Group" which included African American as a major MeSH term were identified. Country of origin, methodology, journal name, first author specialty and funding sources were recorded. Growth in number of publications was analyzed using linear and nonlinear regression statistical analysis.

RESULTS: A total of 113,721 journal articles were identified with "Breast Neoplasm" as a major MeSH term worldwide, of which 34,155 (30.0%) were published from the United States. Among United States publications, 668 (2.0%) were specific to African ancestral populations. From 1992 to 2012, both African ancestral and non-African ancestral specific articles displayed linear growth patterns (p &lt; 0.0001). National Institute of Health (NIH) funded studies displayed an exponential growth pattern (p &lt; 0.0001) for African ancestral specific articles and displayed a linear growth pattern (p &lt; 0.0001) for non-African ancestral articles. The largest specialty contributor of African ancestral specific articles was Epidemiology and Public Health (33.2%), followed by Medicine (internal medicine, family medicine, obstetrics & gynecology, nursing) (24.7%), Basic Sciences (17.4%), Surgery (15%), Medical and Radiation Oncology (4.7%), Pathology (2.9%) and Radiology (2.1%). African ancestral specific articles were most frequently published in Cancer (10.8%).

CONCLUSION: Among breast cancer publications from the United States, only 2% of the articles were specific to African ancestral population, which is concerning given recent data indicating the persistent ethnic disparity in survival. However, the trend in research productivity in this population is encouraging, largely due to the exponential growth of NIH-funded studies specific for African American women in the past 20 years. NIH-funded research accounts for 52% of all published African American specific breast cancer studies as compared to 40.5% of studies that are non-specific to this population. Ultimately, improvements in breast cancer incidence, mortality, and survival rates in African American women will undoubtedly result from quality research and should continue to be a priority in our nation’s breast cancer research agenda.

Citation Format: Ralph T Wynn, Daniel S Chow, Victoria L Mango, Lauren C Friedlander, Richard Ha. National trend in African American women breast cancer research productivity from 1992-2012 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-14-11.