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Ethnicity and Breast Cancer

The largest ethnic minority groups in England are Indian, Pakistani, Black Caribbean and Black African and breast cancer patients from within these groups represent an under-researched population.

Graphic of profiles of different ethnicities.

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) panel.  

How the results of this research will be used

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.

We are designing a new study to investigate how tumour characteristics and other outcomes vary by ethnicity in women with breast cancer which we hope to launch by the end of 2025.

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

Our team

Ethnicity and Breast Cancer Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Group

The Ethnicity and Breast Cancer PPI group is hosted by the Oxford Cancer Centre and the Cancer Epidemiology Unit. Members of the group will be invited to contribute to the study design at various stages. This involvement could include activities such as co-designing ways of introducing the study to communities, ensuring the acceptability and clarity of study materials, and helping us share the relevant results relevant with the different ethnic groups being studied.

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Ethnicity and Breast Cancer Working Group

The Ethnicity and Breast Cancer Working Group is convened and chaired by Dr Toral Gathani.  The group is multidisciplinary and includes academics and clinicians with an interest in health inequality research and patient representatives.

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Newsletters

Issue 1, July 2024

To be added to the mailing list please email the study team.

Selected publications