%0 Journal Article %A DAVID J. RESTREPO %A ANDREA SISTI %A DANIEL BOCZAR %A MARIA T. HUAYLLANI %A JENNIFER FISHE %A EMMANUEL GABRIEL %A SARAH A. MCLAUGHLIN %A SANJAY BAGARIA %A AARON SPAULDING %A BRIAN D. RINKER %A ANTONIO J. FORTE %T Characteristics of Breast Cancer Patients Who Refuse Surgery %D 2019 %R 10.21873/anticanres.13682 %J Anticancer Research %P 4941-4945 %V 39 %N 9 %X Aim: This study describes the demographic, socioeconomic, and tumor-specific characteristics of patients who refuse breast cancer surgery. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of breast cancer patients from 2004-2015 captured by the National Cancer Data Base. Demographic, socioeconomic, and tumor-specific predictors were compared between patients who refused breast cancer surgery versus those who agreed to surgery, using bivariate and multivariate models. Results: A total of 2,445,870 patients met the inclusion criteria. On multivariate analysis, black and Asian patients had higher odds of refusing surgical treatment compared to whites (OR=2.16, CI=2.05-2.28, p<0.001), (OR=1.58, CI=1.41-1.76, p<0.001), respectively. Moreover, patients with government insurance (OR=1.97, CI=1.86-2.09, p<0.001) and uninsured patients (OR=3.91, CI=3.50-4.36, p<0.001) were found to have higher odds of surgical treatment refusal when compared to patients with private insurance. Conclusion: Specific demographic and disease-specific characteristics are related to refusing potentially life-saving breast cancer surgery. %U https://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/anticanres/39/9/4941.full.pdf