AACR: Rural Populations Have Higher Breast Cancer Mortality

THURSDAY, Oct. 22, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Rural populations experience higher breast cancer mortality, and the rural-urban gap is expected to widen by 2035, according to a study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held from Oct. 18 to 21 in Atlanta.Nickolas Stabellini, M.D., Ph.D., from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from the CDC WONDER Multiple Cause of Death database and patient-level data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program to examine rural-urban mortality disparities.Overall, 10.2 percent of 688,165 SEER patients resided in rural counties, and the CDC WONDER analyses included 1,156,445 breast cancer deaths (189,586 rural and 966,859 urban). The researchers found that in both populations, age-adjusted mortality declined over time, but in 2005, rural mortality surpassed urban mortality. Rural mortality was higher by 2020 (32.51 versus 30.48 per 100,000; RR, 1.07), with further widening projected by 2035 (difference, +3.81 per 100,000; RR, 1.13). In a univariable analysis, rural residence was associated with increased mortality (hazard ratio, 1.21), and the independent association persisted after adjustment (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.03). Major contributors to excess mortality identified in a mediation analysis included county-level income, advanced stage at diagnosis, radiation omission, and chemotherapy omission (45.3, 24.9, 11.4, and 7.9 percent, respectively); socioeconomic disadvantage, disease presentation, and treatment differences were confirmed as key contributors to the rural-urban mortality gap in a decomposition analysis."The disparities we observed appear to be linked, at least in part, to socioeconomic conditions, stage at diagnosis, and differences in treatment," Stabellini said in a statement. "This is important because several of these factors may be modifiable."Press ReleaseMore Information.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

AACR: Rural Populations Have Higher Breast Cancer Mortality

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