Do Socioeconomic Status and Race Impact the Safety and Efficacy of Breast Reconstruction?

Introduction: Immediate breast reconstruction after mastectomy has increased in recent years when compared with delayed reconstruction. Despite this encouraging trend, racial and socioeconomic disparities in the receipt of postmastectomy breast reconstruction have been well documented. We sought to assess the effect of race, socioeconomic status, and patient comorbidities on muscle sparing transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous outcomes at our safety net hospital institution in the southeast.

Methods: The database of a tertiary referral center was queried for patients who received free transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous flaps for immediate reconstruction after mastectomy meeting inclusion criteria from 2006 to 2020. Patient demographics and outcomes were compared based on socioeconomic status. The primary outcome (reconstructive success) was defined as breast reconstruction without flap loss. Statistical analysis included analysis of variance and χ2 tests were appropriate using Rstudio.

Results: Three-hundred fourteen patients were included in the study, with 76% White, 16% Black, and 8% other. Overall complication rate at our institution was 17% and reconstructive success was 94%. Non-White race, older age at time of breast cancer diagnosis, higher body mass index, and presence of comorbid conditions including current smoking and hypertension were all associated with low socioeconomic status. Despite this, surgical complication rates were not predicted by non-White race, older age, or presence of diabetes mellitus. When analyzing major and minor complications based on radiation received or reconstructive success, there was no significant difference regardless of radiation treatment with the group overall achieving a 94% success rate (P = 0.229).

Conclusions: This study aimed to characterize the impact of socioeconomic status and race/ethnic status of patients on breast reconstruction outcomes at an institution in the South. We found that despite the greater morbidity in low income and ethnic/minority patients that when treated by a comprehensive safety net institution, they had excellent reconstructive outcomes due to low complications and minimal reoperations.