Table 1.

Comparison of patient and tumor characteristics between Caucasian and African American women diagnosed with early-stage (stage I-II) breast cancer

Patient or Tumor Characteristic	Caucasians		African Americans		P value
	n	%	n	%
Age (years)					<.001
<45	10,201	12.5	1543	20.5
45-49	9028	11.1	1038	13.8
50-54	10,431	12.7	1082	14.4
55-59	9857	12.1	898	11.9
60-64	9021	11.1	782	10.4
65-69	8959	11.0	659	8.8
70-74	8660	10.6	587	7.8
75-79	7308	9.0	493	6.5
≥80	8112	9.9	451	6.0
Marital status					<.001
Married	48,225	59.1	3008	39.0
Unmarried	31,479	38.6	4275	56.8
Unknown	1873	2.3	250	3.3
Tumor AJCC stage					<.001
Stage I	53,737	65.9	3986	52.9
Stage II	27,840	34.1	3547	47.1
Tumor size (cm)					<.001
<1.0	20394	25.0	1262	16.8
1.0-<2.0	37728	46.3	3072	40.8
2.0-<3.0	16125	19.8	1921	25.5
3.0-<4.0	4594	5.6	787	10.5
≥4.0	2367	2.9	450	6.0
Unknown size	369	.5	41	.5
Tumor grade					<.001
Well differentiated	17,819	21.8	960	12.7
Moderately differentiated	31,907	39.1	2332	31.0
Poorly differentiated	22,777	27.8	3179	42.2
Unknown	9074	11.2	1062	14.1
Hormone-receptor status					<.001
Positive	58,340	71.5	4137	54.9
Negative	11,729	14.4	2054	27.3
Unknown	11,508	14.1	1342	17.8
Number of positive nodes					<.001
0 (Node negative)	51,162	62.7	4300	57.1
1	7672	9.4	862	11.4
2-5	6119	7.5	762	10.1
≥6	1907	2.3	277	3.7
Unknown numbers	14,717	18.0	1332	17.7
Total	81,577	100.0	7533	100.0

AJCC=American Joint Committee on Cancer.