States that expanded Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2014 experienced a 4.8% reduction in risk for breast cancer mortality, according to a study published Jan. 27 in JAMA Network Open.
For the study, researchers analyzed data of 1,595,845 women ages 40 to 64 from the National Cancer Database who had received a breast cancer diagnosis between Jan. 1, 2006, and Dec. 31, 2021.
Here are three notes on the study:
- Of 1,595,845 women included in the study, 57.8% lived in expansion states and 42.2% lived in nonexpansion states.
- While the overall hazard reduction was 4.8% of breast cancer mortality risk in expansion states, the reduction varied across racial and socioeconomic characteristics.
The mortality hazard reduction was 3.4% for non-Hispanic White women, 4.3% for non-Hispanic Black women and 19% for Hispanic women. - Lower breast cancer mortality was also higher among patients who had metastatic disease, lived in a higher-income neighborhood and received immunotherapy.
Read the full study here.
