%0 Journal Article
%T Analysing breast cancer microarrays from African Americans using shrinkage-based discriminant analysis
%A Herbert Pang
%A Keita Ebisu
%A Emi Watanabe
%A Laura Y Sue
%A Tiejun Tong
%J Human Genomics
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1479-7364-5-1-5
%X Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women of all ethnic groups in the United States. It is also the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database of the National Cancer Institute shows that African-American women, by comparison with Caucasian women, have a higher mortality rate for breast cancer, despite a lower incidence. Between 2000 and 2004, the age-adjusted breast cancer incidence rates were 118.3 cases per 100,000 African-American women and 132.5 cases per 100,000 Caucasian women [1]. By contrast, mortality rates were worse for African Americans, with 33.8 deaths per 100,000 women compared with 25.0 deaths per 100,000 Caucasian women [1]. In addition, a greater proportion of African-American women are diagnosed at a younger age compared with Caucasian women. The median age at breast cancer diagnosis is 57 years for African-American women and 62 years for Caucasian women [2]. Between 1996 and 2004, the five-year breast cancer survival rates were 77.1 per cent for African-American women and 89.9 per cent for Caucasian women [1].These statistics highlight the disproportionate burden of breast cancer among African-American women [3]. One reason for this ethnic cancer disparity may be due to lower socioeconomic status. Roetzheim et al. mentioned that the lower percentage of health insurance among African Americans has led to late-stage diagnosis, which results in higher mortality rates [4]. In their review article, Gerend and Pai suggested that in addition to socioeconomic status, cultural factors may also play a role [5]. Another potential reason may be the lack of access to mammography [6]. Smigal et al. also reported that the rate mammography uptake varies among ethnic groups [7]. These previous reports collectively suggest that disparities in breast cancer survival may be attributed to lower socioeconomic status. Multivariate modelling approaches show that ethnic differences re
%K African Americans
%K breast cancer
%K discriminant analysis
%K oestrogen receptor
%K health disparities
%K microarrays
%U http://www.humgenomics.com/content/5/1/5