Table 1.
Characteristics of the Patient Population and Rates of RT Receipt
| Variable | Patients |
Weighted % | % Receiving RT* | P† | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | ||||
| Site | < .001 | ||||
| LA | 729 | 55.4 | 55.4 | 78.8 | |
| Detroit | 588 | 44.6 | 44.6 | 82.4 | |
| Surgery type | < .001 | ||||
| BCS | 1,018 | 77.3 | 79.1 | 93.3 | |
| Mastectomy | 299 | 22.7 | 21.0 | 60.2 | |
| Indication strength | < .001 | ||||
| Strong | 1,039 | 78.9 | 70.6 | 93.0 | |
| Weaker | 278 | 21.1 | 17.2 | 59.3 | |
| Comorbidity | .017 | ||||
| None | 523 | 39.7 | 41.1 | 83.3 | |
| 1 | 396 | 30.1 | 29.8 | 81.0 | |
| ≥ 2 | 398 | 30.2 | 29.1 | 73.2 | |
| Age, years | .017 | ||||
| < 40 | 82 | 6.2 | 5.0 | 83.0 | |
| 40-49 | 276 | 21.0 | 19.8 | 77.7 | |
| 50-59 | 377 | 28.6 | 28.5 | 81.2 | |
| 60-69 | 341 | 25.9 | 28.0 | 82.6 | |
| ≥ 70 | 241 | 18.3 | 18.7 | 74.9 | |
| Ethnicity | .140 | ||||
| Black | 352 | 26.7 | 15.8 | 79.2 | |
| White | 605 | 45.9 | 66.3 | 81.4 | |
| Latina | 332 | 25.2 | 16.9 | 73.8 | |
| Other or unknown | 28 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 84.2 | |
| Income, $ | .028 | ||||
| < 20,000 | 234 | 17.8 | 14.9 | 70.8 | |
| 20,000-69,999 | 510 | 38.7 | 36.2 | 80.1 | |
| ≥ 70,000 | 316 | 24.0 | 29.4 | 81.2 | |
| Unknown | 257 | 19.5 | 19.5 | 83.8 | |
| Education | 0.264 | ||||
| Not HS graduate | 227 | 17.2 | 12.9 | 75.7 | |
| HS graduate | 285 | 21.6 | 19.6 | 81.3 | |
| Some college | 464 | 35.2 | 38.5 | 78.2 | |
| College graduate | 320 | 24.3 | 27.0 | 82.5 | |
| Unknown | 21 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 87.3 | |
| Insurance | 0.105 | ||||
| None | 92 | 7.0 | 4.7 | 78.2 | |
| Medicaid | 118 | 9.0 | 7.1 | 75.8 | |
| Medicare | 332 | 25.2 | 25.6 | 76.8 | |
| Other | 731 | 55.5 | 58.1 | 81.2 | |
| Unknown | 44 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 85.9 | |
Abbreviations: RT, radiotherapy; LA, Los Angeles; BCS, breast-conserving surgery; HS, high school.
*
Percent receiving RT calculated within the weighted sample. Patients were categorized as receiving RT if they reported that they had or were going to have radiation therapy to treat their breast cancer (n = 1,136). Of these, 188 patients reported that they had yet to start radiation.
†
P values for differences in the proportion of RT receipt by the categories are shown; separate category included for unknown when unknown values exceeded 5% (ie, for income).