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Presentation, tumour and treatment features in immigrant women from Arabic‐speaking countries treated for breast cancer in Australia
Author(s) -
Heilat Ghaith B.,
Brennan Meagan E.,
Kanesalingam Kavitha,
Sriram Nina,
Meybodi Farid,
French James
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
anz journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.426
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 1445-1433
DOI - 10.1111/ans.15596
Subject(s) - medicine , breast cancer , mastectomy , population , immigration , arabic , demography , gynecology , cancer , obstetrics , environmental health , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , sociology , history
Background Australia has a large population of immigrant women from Arabic‐speaking countries. The aim of this study was to examine breast cancer tumour and surgical treatment features for women born in Arabic‐speaking countries and compare them to women born in Australia and other countries. Another aim was to consider how this information can inform clinical care for this multicultural population. Methods This is a retrospective audit of an institutional breast cancer database. Demographic, tumour and surgical treatment data were extracted for the Arab women and compared to Australian‐born women (comparison 1) and to women born in all other countries (comparison 2); chi‐squared analysis was performed to test for differences between groups. Results A total of 2086 cases with country of birth information were identified, of whom 139 women (6.7%) were born in Arabic‐speaking countries, 894 (42.8%) were born in Australia and 1053 (50.4%) were born in other countries (71 nations). Arab women tended to be younger ( P = 0.013), more disadvantaged ( P < 0.001), were more likely to have symptomatic rather than screen‐detected breast cancer ( P < 0.001), had a higher rate of high grade ( P = 0.021), HER2‐positive ( P = 0.025) breast cancer compared to Australian‐born women or others. There was no difference in tumour (pT) stage, rate of breast conservation versus mastectomy, re‐excision and contralateral prophylactic mastectomy between groups. Australian‐born women were more likely to undergo breast reconstruction after mastectomy ( P < 0.001); reconstruction rate was >29% in all groups. Conclusion Women born in Arabic‐speaking countries were younger, more disadvantaged and showed more aggressive tumour features. This has implications for supportive care during treatment and survivorship.