Ethnicity and Breast Cancer

The Ethnicity and Breast Cancer group has launched a new national breast cancer study, UnityBC. Find out more.

All our research is funded by a three-year project grant from the Prevention and Population Research Committee at Cancer Research UK awarded to Dr Toral Gathani.

Breast cancer is less common in women from ethnic minority backgrounds compared to white women but is associated with poorer outcomes. Furthermore, lower levels of engagement in healthcare research are generally reported in these ethnic groups but the reasons for this are not fully understood.  

The aim of our research is to investigate the associations of ethnicity and breast cancer including differences in incidence, tumour characteristics, treatment and patient experience.

To support all aspects of our work, we have established a national Ethnicity and Breast Cancer Working Group (EBCWG) and an ethnically diverse Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group.  

Why is our work important?

Through our work, we will provide new information on variations in breast cancer incidence and prevalence of known risk factors by ethnicity, age and country of birth. Our work to summarise the barriers to the early diagnosis of breast cancer will inform future qualitative and interventions studies in this area.

UnityBC aims to establish a diverse cohort of women with breast cancer to investigate ethnic variation in diagnostic pathways, tumour characteristics, treatment, experiences of care, and outcomes.

Our most recent publications are listed. Please email us if you would like to find out more about this research.