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In an analysis of data on adolescents and young adults with breast cancer, lower income and younger age were linked with delays in care. The analysis, published online in Cancer, also found that women who experienced delays in cancer diagnoses tended to have later-stage disease.

Breast cancer diagnosed before age 40—which is before the recommended screening age—often carries a poor prognosis, along with unique treatment and psychosocial challenges. Because younger women tend not to undergo screening and may face delays in responding to breast cancer–related symptoms due to potential biases that they are not old enough to have cancer, investigators conducted a study to understand the impact of patient and tumor characteristics on delays in care and the impact of delays on cancer outcomes.

In the analysis of data on 1,071 individuals enrolled in the Young Women's Breast Cancer Study, a multisite prospective cohort of young women diagnosed with breast cancer by age 40, the team identified 153 presentation delays, 120 diagnostic delays and 228 treatment delays.

Presentation delays were defined as ≥90 days from the time of the first patient-reported symptom(s) to presentation to a clinician. Diagnostic delays were ≥90 days from the first health care visit for symptom(s) to the date of a biopsy resulting in a breast cancer diagnosis, and treatment delays were defined as ≥60 days between diagnosis and first treatment.

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