Several key peer-reviewed studies document the disparities Black women face regarding breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL):

1. Incidence and Biological/Clinical Risk Factors
* Disparity in Incidence: A cohort study published in JAMA Oncology demonstrated that Black race and Hispanic ethnicity are significant, independent risk factors for BCRL among patients undergoing treatment for breast cancer (Montagna et al., 2022).
* Comparative Risk: Analysis in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment showed that African American women faced roughly double the risk of developing BCRL compared to White women (Kwan et al., 2016).
* Model Validation: A trial evaluation in JAMA Surgery confirmed significantly higher rates of BCRL among Black women (22.1%) compared to White women (10.1%) and Asian women (12.5%) following axillary lymph node dissection (Rochlin et al., 2023).

2. Socioeconomic and Care Delivery Barriers
* Resource vs. Race Disparities: A study in the Journal of Obesity exploring interlimb volume differences noted that structural disparities, lower resource levels, and education levels significantly impacted swelling severity and intervention accessibility (Dean et al., 2016).

References
Dean, L. T., Kumar, A., Kim, T., Herling, M., Brown, J. C., Zhang, Z., et al. (2016). Race or Resource? BMI, Race, and Other Social Factors as Risk Factors for Interlimb Differences among Overweight Breast Cancer Survivors with Lymphedema. Journal of Obesity, 2016, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/8241710

Kwan, M. L., Yao, S., Lee, V. S., Roh, J. M., Zhu, Q., Ergas, I. J., et al. (2016). Race/ethnicity, genetic ancestry, and breast cancer-related lymphedema in the Pathways Study. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 159(1), 119–129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-016-3913-x

Montagna, G., Zhang, J., Sevilimedu, V., Charyn, J., Abbate, K., Gomez, E. A., et al. (2022). Risk Factors and Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Patients With Breast Cancer–Related Lymphedema. JAMA Oncology, 8(8), 1195. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.1628

Rochlin, D. H., Barrio, A. V., McLaughlin, S., Van Zee, K. J., Woods, J. F., Dayan, J. H., et al. (2023). Feasibility and Clinical Utility of Prediction Models for Breast Cancer–Related Lymphedema Incorporating Racial Differences in Disease Incidence. JAMA Surgery, 158(9), 954. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamasurg.2023.2414

For anyone who plays this information, what are the disparities that black women face with lymphedema????