Impact of neighborhoods and body size on survival after breast cancer diagnosis

Salma Shariff-Marco; Scarlett L Gomez; Meera Sangaramoorthy; Juan Yang; Jocelyn Koo; Andrew Hertz; Esther M John; Iona Cheng; Theresa H M Keegan

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.10.003

Impact of neighborhoods and body size on survival after breast cancer diagnosis

Health Place. 2015 Nov:36:162-72. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.10.003. Epub 2015 Nov 21.

Authors

Salma Shariff-Marco¹, Scarlett L Gomez², Meera Sangaramoorthy³, Juan Yang⁴, Jocelyn Koo⁵, Andrew Hertz⁶, Esther M John⁷, Iona Cheng⁸, Theresa H M Keegan⁹

Affiliations

¹ Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA, USA; Department of Health Research and Policy (Epidemiology), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address: Salma.Shariff-Marco@cpic.org.
² Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA, USA; Department of Health Research and Policy (Epidemiology), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address: Scarlett.Gomez@cpic.org.
³ Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA, USA. Electronic address: Meera.Sangaramoorthy@cpic.org.
⁴ Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA, USA. Electronic address: Juan.Yang@cpic.org.
⁵ Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA, USA. Electronic address: Jocelyn.Koo@cpic.org.
⁶ Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA, USA. Electronic address: Andrew.Hertz@cpic.org.
⁷ Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA, USA; Department of Health Research and Policy (Epidemiology), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address: Esther.John@cpic.org.
⁸ Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA, USA; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address: Iona.Cheng@cpic.org.
⁹ Division of Hematology and Oncology, UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, USA. Electronic address: tkeegan@ucdavis.edu.

Abstract

With data from the Neighborhoods and Breast Cancer Study, we examined the associations between body size, social and built environments, and survival following breast cancer diagnosis among 4347 women in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lower neighborhood socioeconomic status and greater neighborhood crowding were associated with higher waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). After mutual adjustment, WHR, but not neighborhood characteristics, was positively associated with overall mortality and marginally with breast cancer-specific mortality. Our findings suggest that WHR is an important modifiable prognostic factor for breast cancer survivors. Future WHR interventions should account for neighborhood characteristics that may influence WHR.

Keywords: Body size; Breast cancer survival; Neighborhood; Waist-to-hip ratio.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Body Mass Index
Body Size / physiology*
Breast Neoplasms*
Disease-Free Survival*
Female
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Middle Aged
Qualitative Research
Residence Characteristics*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding