Univariate analysis of patient demographic and socioeconomic factors versus nodal surgery
| Variable | No. (%) of patients* | p value | No. (%) of patients* | p value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nodal surgery n = 545 | No nodal surgery n = 176 | Sentinel lymph node biopsy n = 317 | Axillary lymph node dissection† n = 228 | |||
| Age at diagnosis, yr | ||||||
| < 51 | 129 (23.7) | 20 (11.4) | < 0.001 | 62 (19.6) | 67 (29.4) | 0.008 |
| 51–70 | 283 (51.9) | 81 (46.0) | 181 (57.1) | 102 (44.7) | ||
| > 70 | 133 (24.4) | 75 (42.6) | 74 (23.3) | 59 (25.9) | ||
| Obese | ||||||
| Yes | 206 (39.0) | 49 (30.2) | 0.04 | 117 (38.2) | 89 (40.1) | 0.7 |
| No | 322 (61.0) | 113 (69.8) | 189 (61.8) | 133 (59.9) | ||
| Employment | ||||||
| Employed | 233 (43.5) | 44 (25.7) | < 0.001 | 133 (42.8) | 100 (44.4) | 0.7 |
| Not employed | 303 (56.5) | 127 (74.3) | 178 (57.2) | 125 (55.6) | ||
| Marital status | ||||||
| Married | 354 (65.2) | 93 (52.8) | 0.003 | 210 (66.7) | 144 (63.2) | 0.4 |
| Not married | 189 (34.8) | 83 (47.2) | 105 (33.3) | 84 (36.8) | ||
| First-degree relative with breast cancer | ||||||
| Yes | 120 (22.9) | 39 (25.3) | 0.5 | 80 (26.2) | 40 (18.3) | 0.03 |
| No | 404 (77.1) | 115 (74.7) | 225 (73.8) | 179 (81.7) | ||
| Smoking status | ||||||
| Smoker/previous smoker | 240 (44.3) | 49 (28.3) | < 0.001 | 131 (41.6) | 109 (48.0) | 0.1 |
| Never smoked | 302 (55.7) | 124 (71.7) | 184 (58.4) | 118 (52.0) | ||
| No. of comorbidities | ||||||
| 0 | 149 (27.3) | 34 (19.3) | 0.03 | 83 (26.2) | 66 (28.9) | 0.48 |
| ≥ 1 | 396 (72.7) | 142 (80.7) | 234 (73.8) | 162 (71.0) | ||
| Income quintile | ||||||
| 1 | 112 (20.8) | 35 (19.9) | 0.9 | 54 (17.2) | 58 (25.7) | 0.2 |
| 2 | 110 (20.4) | 31 (17.6) | 65 (20.8) | 45 (19.9) | ||
| 3 | 108 (20.0) | 40 (22.7) | 66 (21.1) | 42 (18.6) | ||
| 4 | 106 (19.7) | 34 (19.3) | 65 (20.8) | 41 (18.1) | ||
| 5 | 103 (19.1) | 36 (20.4) | 63 (20.1) | 40 (17.7) | ||
| % of census tract population who completed college or university | ||||||
| > 40 | 230 (42.4) | 74 (42.0) | > 0.99 | 135 (42.8) | 95 (41.8) | 0.2 |
| 31–40 | 179 (33.0) | 58 (33.0) | 111 (35.2) | 68 (30.0) | ||
| < 31 | 133 (24.5) | 44 (25.0) | 69 (21.9) | 64 (28.2) | ||
| % of census tract population who immigrated in previous 5 yr | ||||||
| > 30 | 151 (27.8) | 48 (27.3) | 0.3 | 84 (26.7) | 67 (29.5) | 0.8 |
| 21–30 | 161 (29.7) | 63 (35.8) | 96 (30.5) | 65 (28.6) | ||
| < 21 | 230 (42.4) | 65 (36.9) | 135 (42.8) | 95 (41.8) | ||
| Previous breast cancer | ||||||
| Yes | 47 (8.6) | 40 (22.7) | < 0.001 | 27 (8.5) | 20 (8.8) | 0.9 |
| No | 498 (91.4) | 136 (77.3) | 290 (91.5) | 208 (91.2) | ||
| Disease stage (TNM) | ||||||
| 0–1 | 233 (42.8) | 90 (51.1) | 0.005 | 205 (64.7) | 28 (12.3) | < 0.001 |
| 2 | 185 (33.9) | 37 (21.0) | 105 (33.1) | 80 (35.1) | ||
| 3–4 | 127 (23.3) | 49 (27.8) | 7 (2.2) | 120 (52.6) | ||