RICHMOND, Va. — A new study finds that where someone lives may be just as important as biology when it comes to surviving breast cancer.
The research, recently published in the scientific journal JAMA Network Open, examines how neighborhood conditions shape breast cancer survival outcomes.
It is a collaboration between VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center and cancer centers at the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia.
Dr. Joseph Boyle is the lead researcher and Dr. Bernard Fuemmeler is the senior author.
"There are certainly socioeconomic factors. There are factors related to access to physical activities, environmental exposures, health behaviors," Boyle said.
Fuemmeler said Boyle's work shows the environment matters as much as biology.
"So what he's done is taken that science and applied it to the areas and conditions where we live to pinpoint precisely the areas that people live that create the most risk," Fuemmeler said.
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Those risk factors include stress, finances, and living conditions.
"Households with people making not a lot of money but spending a lot of it on rent, crowded households with 6 or more people living in the household. Areas with many people having very recently moved in, and these all speak to the importance of providing financial support and minimizing stress for breast cancer survivors," Boyle said.
Boyle said this study sets itself apart from previous research by going beyond broad assessments.
"Previous studies have used one-number scores to encompass the entirety of individuals neighborhood life, day-to-day life," Boyle said. "That is nice and simple, but it can obscure the specific factors that are driving how neighborhoods are shaping our health and, in particular, breast cancer survival."
Fuemmeler said the researchers hope the findings eventually lead to better outcomes for patients.
"With that knowledge, applying that to better outreach, better treatment, and better approaches to improve the lives of patients, no matter where they live," Fuemmeler said. "It shouldn't matter where you live or how long you live with cancer."
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