Health System Strengthening Recommendations for Cancer Care in Women With Disabilities

Breast cancer survival rates have greatly improved in recent decades. However, they are still relatively lower for women with disabilities, particularly those with a severe degree of disability, as highlighted by the study by Choi et al. The authors linked data for patients with breast cancer for 2012 to 2019 from a major national database, including Korea’s national cancer registry, the Cancer Public Library Database, and National Disability Registry database. The linked data yielded a cohort of 150 412 patients with cancer, of whom 142 969 were women without disabilities and 7443 were women with disabilities. The latter group included patients with cancer with different disabilities, ranging from physical, sensory, traumatic brain injury, and other categories comprising cognitive impairment and serious mental health disorders. The study assessed stage at diagnosis, treatment uptake, survival rates, and mortality after adjusting for a range of potential confounders (ie, age, income, residence, comorbidities, and treatment type, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy).