Increasing trends in the use of breast-conserving surgery in California

Objectives. The purposes of this study was to determine temporal trends in breast-conserving surgery in California from 1988 through 1995. Methods. Logistic regression was used to analyze data on 104 466 cases of e arly-stage breast cancer reported to the California Cancer Registry. Results. A monotonically increasing trend in breast-conserving surgery was detected after adjustment for age, race/ethnicity, stage at diagnosis, and neighborhood education level. Breast-conserving surgery increased at simila r rates among all racial/ethnic groups. Older age, Asian or Hispanic race/e thnicity, late-stage diagnosis, and residence in an undereducated neighborh ood were factors associated with lower use of breast-conserving surgery. CONCLUSIONS. Although disparities are evident, use of breast-conserving sur gery increased steadily in all groups examined in this study.