Presentation, tumour and treatment features in immigrant women from Arabic‐speaking countries treated for breast cancer in Australia

BACKGROUND: Australia has a large population of immigrant women from Arabic-speaking countries. The aim of this study was to examine breast cancer tumour and surgical treatment features for women born in Arabic-speaking countries and compare them to women born in Australia and other countries. Another aim was to consider how this information can inform clinical care for this multicultural population. METHODS: This is a retrospective audit of an institutional breast cancer database. Demographic, tumour and surgical treatment data were extracted for the Arab women and compared to Australian-born women (comparison 1) and to women born in all other countries (comparison 2); chi-squared analysis was performed to test for differences between groups. RESULTS: A total of 2086 cases with country of birth information were identified, of whom 139 women (6.7%) were born in Arabic-speaking countries, 894 (42.8%) were born in Australia and 1053 (50.4%) were born in other countries (71 nations). Arab women tended to be younger (P = 0.013), more disadvantaged (P 29% in all groups. CONCLUSION: Women born in Arabic-speaking countries were younger, more disadvantaged and showed more aggressive tumour features. This has implications for supportive care during treatment and survivorship.