Socioeconomic Disparities in Supportive Therapies for Hight Risk Breast Cancer
Melanie Wain Kier, MD, MBA, discusses her research into how income and race affected the rate at which patients with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer used supportive therapies proven to help mitigate toxicities from aromatase inhibitors, drugs that lower estrogen levels in the body. She said, “I hope our colleagues take away from this conversation more self-awareness and bring it back to themselves. Be a little more self-aware when you’re interacting with patients. Think [about if you’re] behaving the same with everyone. Is there a reason why higher-income patients receive supportive therapies [more?] Try to bridge the gap with lower- or middle-income patients who are not utilizing those same supportive therapies. Try to make sure that we’re closing those gaps within our own care with our patients.