Table 1.
Patient characteristics by surgery received (n=487)
| Characteristic | Breast-conserving surgery (n=281) |
Unilateral mastectomy a (n=155) |
Bilateral Mastectomy a (n=51) |
P-value b |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | ||
|
| ||||
| Stagec | <0.0001 | |||
| 0 [n=86] | 59 (69) | 21 (24) | 6 (7) | |
| I [n=198] | 134 (68) | 49 (25) | 15 (8) | |
| II [n=157] | 76 (48) | 61 (39) | 20 (13) | |
| III [n=46] | 12 (26) | 24 (52) | 10 (22) | |
|
| ||||
| Race/ethnicity | 0.028 | |||
| Non-Hispanic white [n=220] | 126 (57) | 61 (28) | 33 (15) | |
| Non-Hispanic black [n=132] | 73 (55) | 50 (38) | 9 (7) | |
| Hispanic [n=135] | 82 (61) | 44 (33) | 9 (7) | |
|
| ||||
| Age (years) | 0.012 | |||
| <50 [n=124] | 60 (48) | 42 (34) | 22 (18) | |
| 50–59 [n=152] | 90 (59) | 46 (30) | 16 (11) | |
| 60+ [n=211] | 131 (62) | 67 (32) | 13 (6) | |
|
| ||||
| Marital status | 0.109 | |||
| Married [n=277] | 154 (56) | 87 (31) | 36 (13) | |
| Unmarried/unknown [n=210] | 127 (60) | 68 (32) | 15 (7) | |
|
| ||||
| Comorbidity score d | 0.884 | |||
| 0 [n=195] | 112 (58) | 62 (32) | 21 (11) | |
| 1 [n=178] | 101 (57) | 56 (31) | 21 (12) | |
| 2+ [n=114] | 68 (60) | 37 (32) | 9 (8) | |
|
| ||||
| Educational attainment | 0.018 | |||
| High school or less [n=163] | 89 (55) | 63 (39) | 11 (7) | |
| Some college [n=153] | 96 (63) | 44 (29) | 13 (9) | |
| College graduate [n=171] | 96 (56) | 48 (28) | 27 (16) | |
|
| ||||
| Household Income | 0.002 | |||
| <$20,000 [n=97] | 55 (57) | 38 (39) | 4 (4) | |
| $20,000-$39,999 [n=89] | 51 (57) | 33 (37) | 5 (6) | |
| $40,000-$59,999 [n=73] | 44 (60) | 22 (30) | 7 (10) | |
| ≥$60,000 [n=178] | 100 (56) | 45 (25) | 33 (19) | |
| Don’t know [n=50] | 31 (62) | 17 (34) | 2 (4) | |
|
| ||||
| Insurance at diagnosis | 0.148 | |||
| Yes [n=460] | 270 (59) | 142 (31) | 48 (10) | |
| No [n=27] | 11 (41) | 13 (48) | 3 (11) | |
|
| ||||
| Average health literacy scoree (SD) | 1.80 (1.07) | 1.82 (1.02) | 1.57 (1.00) | 0.293 |
Abbreviations: SD=standard deviation
With or without reconstruction
Using chi-square tests for categorical variables and the Kruskal-Wallis test for the health literacy score; bolded results are significant with P<0.05
Using cancer registry data; one case reported as stage IV was categorized as stage III
Comorbidity was assessed by adding the number of self-reported medical conditions32, 34 including other cancers, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, emphysema/chronic bronchitis/asthma/other chronic lung disease, kidney problems, depression/other psychiatric illness.
Health literacy was defined using a validated, 3-item screening tool:33 (1) “How confident are you filling out medical forms,” (2) “How often do you have problems learning about your medical condition?,” and (3) “How often do you have someone help you read hospital materials?” Responses used a 5-item Likert scale. After reversing responses for the first item, we assigned each answer a score of 1–5 (lower numbers reflect most confidence/fewest problems) and averaged the three scores. Lower scores indicate better literacy.