Breast cancer diagnosis, patterns of care and burden of disease in Queensland, Australia (1998–2004): Does being Indigenous make a difference?

Objectives: We compared patterns of care, comorbidity, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) and survival in Indigenous and non-Indigenous women with breast cancer in Queensland, Australia (1998–2004).

Methods: A cohort study of Indigenous (n = 110) and non-Indigenous women (n = 105), frequency matched on age and remoteness. We used Pearson’s Chi-squared analysis to compare proportions, hazard models to assess survival differences and calculated disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).

Results: Indigenous women were more likely to be socially disadvantaged (43 vs. 20 %, p < 0.01) have comorbidity (42 vs. 18 % p < 0.01), and have regional spread or distant metastasis (metastasis, 51 vs. 36 %, p = 0.02) than non-Indigenous women; there was no difference in treatment patterns. More Indigenous women died in the follow-up period (p = 0.01). DALY’s were 469 and 665 per 100,000 for Indigenous and non-Indigenous women, respectively, with a larger proportion of the burden attributed to premature death among the former (63 vs. 59 %).

Conclusions: Indigenous women with breast cancer received comparable treatment to their non-Indigenous counterparts. The higher proportion of DALYs related to early death in Indigenous women suggests higher fatality with breast cancer in this group. Later stage at diagnosis and higher comorbidity presence among Indigenous women reinforce the need for early detection and improved management of co-existing disease.