Breast cancer stage at diagnosis: Caucasians versus Afro-Americans.

In the Department of Defense health care system, all women have the same ability to access health care. Thus, there should be no racial differences in stage at diagnosis solely based on ability to seek health care. A retrospective review of breast cancer cases from 1976-1992 was conducted to determine if there were any differences in stage at diagnosis between Caucasian and Afro-American females. Data was available for 6414 Caucasian and 746 Afro-American females. Stage at diagnosis was similar for both groups. However, Afro-Americans had fewer tumors < or = 1.0 cm than Caucasians. Afro-American females were younger (median age 50 years versus 58 years in Caucasians). Twenty-four per cent of Afro-Americans were < 40 years old compared to only 9% Caucasians. When access to care is not an issue, there are no racial differences in stage of breast cancer at diagnosis.