Finance Comes in the Way of Seeking Care for Breast Cancer

Many young patients suffering from breast cancer find it difficult to get due care and treatment because of their financial problems, says a study report. In their quest for the possible reasons for such state of affairs the researchers found that delay in diagnosis of breast cancer is nominal in case of young women. However, financial problems often result in delay in treatment for the women suffering from breast cancer. The research team was led by Kathryn J. Ruddy as well as Dr Ann H. Partridge. In course of their study they verified cases of 585 breast cancer patients in the age group of 40 and below. Their findings was that while over 80% of the patients detected breast abnormalities pretty early, delay of over 90 days occurred in many cases in diagnosis and treatments in the low income groups. "Because we discovered that women who are less financially comfortable are more likely to delay seeking medical attention for breast abnormalities that later are diagnosed as breast cancer, it appears that economic disparity may be an important consideration in future development of interventions to reduce delays," said Dr. Ruddy.