Neighborhood Contexts and Breast Cancer Among Asian American Women

Brittany N Morey; Gilbert C Gee; May C Wang; Ondine S von Ehrenstein; Salma Shariff-Marco; Alison J Canchola; Juan Yang; Sandra S-J Lee; Roxanna Bautista; Winston Tseng; Pancho Chang; Scarlett Lin Gomez

doi:10.1007/s10903-021-01196-6

Neighborhood Contexts and Breast Cancer Among Asian American Women

J Immigr Minor Health. 2022 Apr;24(2):445-454. doi: 10.1007/s10903-021-01196-6. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Program of Public Health, Department of Health, Society, & Behavior, University of California Irvine, 653 E. Peltason Dr., Anteater Instruction and Research Building 2022, Irvine, CA, 92697-3957, USA. brittany.morey@uci.edu.
² Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
³ Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of California Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
⁴ Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
⁵ Division of Ethics, Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, PH 1525, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
⁶ Rise Up Solutions, San Ramon, CA, 94583, USA.
⁷ School of Public Health Division of Community Health Sciences, University of California Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
⁸ Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), Washington, DC, 20005, USA.

Abstract

Background: This study examines how neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES) and ethnic composition are associated with breast cancer risk for Asian American women.

Methods: We linked individual level data from a population-based case-control study of breast cancer among Asian American women with neighborhood level data in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area (cases: n = 118, controls: n = 390). Multivariable logistic regression models examined the association between nSES, ethnic composition, and odds of having breast cancer.

Results: Asian American women living in neighborhoods with high nSES and high ethnic composition had the highest odds of breast cancer, compared to those living in neighborhoods with high nSES and low ethnic composition (OR = 0.34, 95% CI [0.16-0.75]) or in neighborhoods with low nSES and high ethnic composition (OR = 0.37, 95% CI [0.17-0.83]).

Discussion: Neighborhood socioeconomic and ethnic contexts are associated with breast cancer for Asian American women. We discuss explanations and avenues for future research.

Keywords: Asian American; Breast cancer; Ethnic composition; Neighborhoods; Socioeconomic status.

MeSH terms

Asian*
Breast Neoplasms*
Case-Control Studies
Female
Humans
Residence Characteristics
Social Class

Abstract

MeSH terms

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