The goal of this study was to determine the relative effects of race and SES on survival of women with breast cancer after adjusting for disease stage. The subjects included all patients with a new diagnosis of simple, primary, breast cancer admitted for treatment during the period from 1987 to 1991 at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Early stage disease was less prevalent among Blacks and Hispanics compared with whites. Treatment also differed among racial groups. However treatment differences were associated with disease stage; neither race nor SES differences in treatment remained after adjusting for disease stage.

The relative risk of death for black women over white women was 1.98. After controlling for prognostic factors, the relative risk for black women was 1.34 (not statistically significant). Adding stage of disease to a model with race reduced the RR of 1.98 to 1.61, while adding SES to a model with race reduced the RR of 1.98 to 1.54. Thus, it appears that the lower survival for black women is mediated by SES differences. Survival for Hispanic women (after adjusting for stage of disease) did not significantly differ from that of white women.