Are There Disparities in Surgical Treatment for Breast Cancer Patients with Prior Physical Disability A Path Analysis

Cancer care for patients with prior physical disability has hardly been researched in clinical research, health services research, or special education. This article aims to compare the severity of disease and the surgical treatment of diagnosed breast cancer patients with and without prior physical disability.

A total of 4,194 patients with primary breast cancer who underwent surgery in a breast cancer center in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, participated in an annual postoperative postal survey, which was complemented by clinical data. Latent class analysis and logit path models were applied to study (1) differences in terms of UICC staging and local cancer treatment between patients with and without prior physical disability and (2) respective differences by disability severity.

Patients with physical disability (n = 780; 18.7%) had a higher chance of receiving mastectomy compared to breast-conserving therapy, even after controlling for socioeconomic status and UICC staging. Disability severity is directly and indirectly associated with receiving a mastectomy.

In light of the research gap on disability and cancer, this work indicates disparities in care for breast cancer patients with prior physical disability. Inequalities might be attributable to (1) unequal access to care, (2) individual preferences and difficulties, or (3) medical difficulties.