José Sandoval: Socioeconomic inequalities in quality of life for patients with early breast cancer

José Sandoval, Clinical and Research Fellow at Curie Institute, shared on X:

“Very happy that our study on socioeconomic inequalities in quality of life (QoL) for patients with early breast cancer (EBC) from the CANTO Study is finally out at Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Setting:
• ~5900 women with EBC
• Treated in multiple French institutions
• QoL assessment (EORTC-QLQ-C30 and BR23) at diagnosis, Year 1, and Year 2
• Socioeconomic status (SES) indicators: financial difficulties, income, education
• Covariates: age, comorbidities, stage, detailed treatment characteristics
• Country with UHC and equal access to treatment

Main Findings:
• Pre-existing SES inequalities in QoL widen in the 2 years after diagnosis.
• Independent of age, stage at diagnosis, and received treatment.

Conclusions:
• The QoL burden of EBC diagnosis and treatment is heavier in women with lower SES,
• Irrespective of received treatment and disease severity
• UHC and equal access are not enough to prevent inequality widening.
• SES-adapted interventions are needed to, at least, prevent the widening of QoL inequalities following diagnosis and primary treatment of EBC.

This work wouldn’t be possible without the participants in the CANTO Study, brilliantly led by Ines Vaz Luis.”

Source: José Sandoval/X