Stage at breast cancer diagnosis and distance from diagnostic hospital in a periurban setting: a South African public hospital case series of over 1,000 women.

ABSTRACT: Advanced stage at diagnosis contributes to low breast cancer survival rates in sub-Saharan Africa. Living far from health services is known to delay presentation, but the effect of residential distance to hospital, the radius at which this effect sets in and the women most affected have not been quantified. In a periurban South African setting, we examined the effect of a geographic information system (GIS)-measured straight-line distance, from a patient's residence to diagnostic hospital, on stage at diagnosis in 1,071 public-sector breast cancer patients diagnosed during 2006-2012. Generalized linear models were used to estimate risk ratios for late stage (stage III/IV vs. stage I/II) associated with distance, adjusting for year of diagnosis, age, race and socioeconomic indicators. Mean

SUBMITTER: Dickens C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4134722 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature