New Breast Cancer Publication on Journal of Young Women’s Breast Cancer and Health
Addressing the Challenge of Delayed Diagnosis Due to Age‑related Disparities in Young Women’s Breast Cancer Care
Globally, close to 1.2 million adolescents and young adults (AYA) aged 15–39 years were diagnosed with cancer in 2019.[1] The highest incidence of cancer in young women was attributed to a disproportionate number (close to 170,000) of young women diagnosed with breast cancer.[1] The highest number (over 43,000) of AYA cancer deaths and close to 2,500,000 disability‑adjusted life years were attributed to breast cancer.[1] This increasing trend in the prevalence of breast cancer in young women, more aggressive disease features, increased recurrence rates, and poorer outcomes makes breast cancer a “rising threat” to young women worldwide.[2] Long delays in diagnosis have been identified as one of the characteristics of young women with breast cancer. Age disparities have been well-documented in breast cancer stage-at-diagnosis data. For example, disproportionate numbers of young women in the United States (US) between 1976 and 2009 were reported to have been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer compared to older women.[3] Due to patient or physician inaction, young women with a late-stage diagnosis experience adverse outcomes, including distress and a lower chance of survival.[3] Predictions that more young women will present with advanced breast cancer are a genuine concern for young women who already have a poor prognosis.[3] Addressing the late diagnosis, age disparity requires a multifaceted approach targeting a number of stakeholders including, but not limited to, policymakers, society at large, the general AYA population, young women with breast cancer not yet diagnosed, and the health-care providers (HCP) who encounter them in their practice. This commentary will critically review the issue of diagnostic delays of breast cancer in young women, awareness and early detection knowledge barriers for young women, the status of known frontline HCP knowledge barriers, and health promotion strategies to help mitigate early detection knowledge gaps.