Inequalities in breast cancer in Northern Ireland

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Inequalities in breast cancer presentation, treatment and outcomes in Northern Ireland.

• IRAS ID

  329504

• Contact name

  Christopher Cardwell

• Contact email

  c.cardwell@qub.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Queen's University Belfast

• Duration of Study in the UK

  4 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Northern Ireland (NI) is a UK region with high rates of deprivation, long waiting lists for health care, poor mental health and known health inequalities. In NI over 1,400 women are newly diagnosed with breast cancer each year, but little is known about the impact of various health inequalities (including poor mental health, remoteness from healthcare services, low socio-economic status and migration) on breast cancer presentation, treatment and outcomes.

  The objectives of our study are:
  A) to create linked datasets within NI containing characteristics of breast cancer patients and outcomes and
  B) to analyse these linked datasets to investigate the patterns and extent of inequalities in breast cancer presentation, treatment and outcomes;

  This work has the potential to identify disadvantaged groups of breast cancer patients within NI who have worse outcomes, make recommendations to improve patient care in these disadvantaged groups, inform interventions to improve outcomes in these disadvantaged groups and inform future data collection in breast cancer to monitor outcomes in these disadvantaged groups.

  The study will investigate a range of breast cancer outcomes including stage at diagnosis, pathway to diagnosis, time from diagnosis to initial treatment, treatments received and mortality. The main research questions are:
  1) Does presentation, treatment and outcome differ in breast cancer patients with mental health disorders?
  2) Does presentation, treatment and outcome differ in breast cancer patients who live far from their GP or far from their treatment centre?
  3) Does presentation, treatment and outcome differ in breast cancer patients from lower socio-economic backgrounds,
  4) Does presentation, treatment and outcome differ in breast cancer patients with disabilities, who are from minority ethnic groups or who are migrants?

• REC name

  Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  23/YH/0157

• Date of REC Opinion

  20 Jul 2023

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion