Patterns of Treatment and Survival among American Indian and Alaska Native Women with Breast Cancer, 2000-2015

We used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program to examine trends in breast cancer treatment and survival among a large sample of American Indian and Alaska Native women diagnosed from 2000-2015. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate survival. Alaska Natives were more likely to undergo mastectomy (48% compared with 39% of American Indians and 36% of non-Hispanic Whites) and were less likely to receive breast reconstruction following mastectomy (9% compared with 17% of American Indians and 28% of non-Hispanic Whites). Alaska Natives had both lower overall (HR: 1.40 95% CI: 1.19-1.65) and breast-cancer specific (HR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.63) survival compared with non-Hispanic Whites. Survival differences across the three racial groups varied significantly by age. Efforts to improve survival among American Indian and Alaska Native populations will need to address barriers to access among these vulnerable populations.