Trends in Survival Over the Past Two Decades Among White and Black Patients With Newly Diagnosed Stage IV Breast Cancer

Abstract

Purpose Overall, breast cancer mortality has been declining in the United States, but survival studies of patients with stage IV disease are limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate trends in and factors affecting survival in a large population-based cohort of patients with newly diagnosed stage IV breast cancer. Patients and Methods We searched the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry to identify female patients with stage IV breast cancer diagnosed between 1988 and 2003. Patients were divided into three groups according to year of diagnosis (1988 to 1993, 1994 to 1998, and 1999 to 2003). Survival outcomes were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox models were fit to determine the characteristics independently associated with survival. Results We identified 15,438 patients. Median age was 62 years. Median follow-up was 16 months, 18 months, and 11 months in periods 1988 to 1993, 1994 to 1998, and 1999 to 2003, respectively. Median breast cancer–specific survival was 23 month...