Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Cancer Research
Alexis Maynor - Tuskegee University
Co-Author(s): Tania Anderson, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL Brandon Epps, Earnest Alema-Mensah, and Derrick J. Beech, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA
Significant advances have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in the United States with improved survival. Unfortunately, this improvement has not been consistent across all ethnic groups with African American women having lower survival rates compared to other ethnic groups. Many developing nations lack electronic medical registries to inventory and analyze trends in the diagnosis, treatment and survival associated with breast cancer. We hypothesize that a breast cancer registry can assist in care coordination of these patients in under resourced environments. A Breast Cancer Registry was developed to provide a more comprehensive analysis of breast cancer in under resourced environments. The registry was evaluated by entering data from patients in Atlanta, Georgia from June 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015. Data was collected by the attending physician and de-identified. Demographic data, tumor related factors, treatment, survival and health behavior information was collected. In addition to the data analysis, ease of data entry was assessed using a smartphone (via 3G or 4G network) commonly available in developing countries versus the traditional computer data entry. The times were compared to determine which entry style was most efficient. After minor changes to the questionnaire we then analyzed the data using statistical software (SAS). This study involved 49 women between the ages of 39-81. Eighty-four percent were Black, 4% White and 12.24% were Latin or Asian. The two most common types of insurance used were Commercial and Medicare. The majority of the patients were diagnosed with Stage I Invasive Ductal breast cancer. All of the Triple Negative Breast Cancer patients were African American. The majority of Triple Negative Breast Cancer patients had prior history of alcohol and tobacco use. The use of a registry can improve care coordination. There is equal efficiency between use of standard computer and smartphones with regard to data entry. There appears to be a potential correlation between African American patients with Triple Negative breast cancer and the reported use of alcohol and tobacco. It is our hope to extend this study to Jamaica, West Indies to compare African American women to those in Jamaica with African ancestry.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): MSM/TU/UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center Partnership, Morehouse School of Medicine – U54 CA118638
Faculty Advisor: Derrick Beech,