Neighborhood SES, Racial Concentration, and Hormone Receptor Status among California Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

Erin Linnenbringer, University of Michigan
Arline Geronimus, University of Michigan

We analyzed California Cancer Registry records to determine whether the odds of being diagnosed with estrogen and progesterone negative (ER-/PR-) breast cancer are related to neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics. A total of 88,205 white, black, and Hispanic women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 1996-2004 were included in the analysis. Preliminary results indicate that increasing neighborhood SES reduces the odds of ER-/PR- breast cancer among white women only. Neighborhood SES is not independently associated with odds of ER-/PR- breast cancer among black women, but it strengthens the already significant reduction in ER-/PR- odds associated with increasing percentages of co-ethnic neighbors within this population. The relationships among breast cancer subtype, neighborhood SES, and percentage of co-ethnic neighbors is less clear among Hispanic women. When evaluated at the neighborhood level, area-based measures of SES and racial concentration provide provocative new evidence of potential socio-environmental contributions to observed racial/ethnic disparities in breast cancer subtypes.