system
Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: OBJECTIVE, METHODS, METHODS, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Adult, African Americans, Breast Neoplasms, Chemotherapy, Adjuvant, Confidence Intervals, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Healthcare Disparities, Humans, Logistic Models, Mastectomy, Medicaid, Middle Aged, Odds Ratio, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Radiotherapy, Adjuvant, Retrospective Studies, Socioeconomic Factors, Time Factors, United States, Young Adult.
user
Do black Medicaid beneficiaries experience breast cancer treatment delays more frequently than whites? Context: Delays in treatment initiation may contribute to the poorer breast cancer survival among Black women compared with Whites. Lower socioeconomic status and lack of access to care are other reasons for the observed disparities. We, therefore, examined racial differences in treatment delays for early breast cancer in a similarly insured population of Medicaid beneficiaries. A retrospective cohort study using linked New Jersey Cancer Registry and Medicaid Research files using logistic regression models. 237 Black and 485 White women aged 20-64 years diagnosed with early breast cancer between 1997 and 2001. Delays in treatment initiation. Blacks experience adjuvant chemotherapy delays more often than Whites. Black women had two-fold odds (95% confidence interval, 1.04, 4.38) of > or = 3 months delay in adjuvant chemotherapy than Whites. Blacks were also more likely to experience radiation treatment delays but this finding was not statistically significant (odds ratio 1.72, 95% CI .79, 3.77). No racial differences were observed for surgical and hormonal treatment delays.
assistant
Blacks experienced delays in initiating adjuvant chemotherapy more frequently than Whites. These differences were observed even in a population with similar socioeconomic status and insurance access, suggesting that cultural and psychosocial factors may contribute to the observed differences. Final Decision: yes