Research by ENST's Dr. Travis Gallow and colleagues shows how location matters in breast cancer outcomes
Researchers from the University of Maryland with collaborators from George Mason University identified patterns of breast cancer survival that linked social and environmental factors with geographic regions across the country. Their study revealed that limited access to healthy food was correlated with lower breast cancer survival rates in the East and Southeast, but not in the West or Southwest. Meanwhile, opportunities for exercise were a more significant determinant of breast cancer survival in the Southwest than they were elsewhere in the country. Location has enough influence that in some places, certain risks were associated with high mortality, while adjacent towns and neighborhoods had similar risks but lower mortality.
One of the most significant aspects of the study was that the researchers did not have to conduct multiple, location-based surveys to find these patterns. Instead, their innovative approach used methods from geographical sciences to analyze large-scale national data sets on human health, environmental conditions and social and demographic information.
The research paper was published online in JAMA Network on September 14, 2023.
“The exciting take-away from this study is that by looking at these large national data sets in this novel way, we were able to take into account these spatially specific hotspots and identify where the effects of different risk factors were most significant,” said Travis Gallo, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology at UMD and co-author of the study. “With this extra information, you could design very culturally specific interventions to reduce breast cancer mortality.”
