Patterns of social determinants of health screening and health-related social needs among patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer in a safety-net system.
7 affiliations
- 1Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, USA.
- 2Parkland Health, Dallas, TX, USA.
- 3Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
- 4Peter J. O'Donnell Jr. School of Public Health, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
- 5Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, USA. [email protected].
- 6Parkland Health, Dallas, TX, USA. [email protected].
- 7Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dallas, TX, USA. [email protected].
Abstract
Purpose
Various social determinants of health (SDOH) have been shown to negatively impact breast cancer outcomes. Though there are recommendations for comprehensive SDOH assessment, little is known about the optimal frequency of reassessments and change in health-related social needs (HRSN) over time for specific patient populations. We sought to characterize SDOH screening and HRSN patterns among patients with breast cancer in a safety-net system.Methods
A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate SDOH survey responses in the electronic medical records and screening frequency from patients diagnosed with breast cancer between January 2021 to January 2024 at Parkland Health.Results
There were 566 patients diagnosed with breast cancer with a mean age at diagnosis of 55.0 (standard deviation, SD: 11.4) years. There were 54 (9.5%) with Stage IV breast cancer. Patients were initially at risk for 1.36 (SD: 1.39) out of the 11 HRSN domains. Patients completed an average 17.3 (SD: 8.9) out of 28 questions on initial survey. The most common risk domains identified were Alcohol Use and Food Insecurity. No patients were screened for Interpersonal Violence. The median time from initial survey to first change in risk level for any domain was 8.7 months. Patients with Stage IV disease underwent fewer SDOH re-screenings compared to patients with Stage I, II, and III disease (p < 0.001).Conclusion
Within our system, greater attention should be placed towards fully assessing patients' HRSN and screening for interpersonal violence. SDOH screening at 6-month intervals may help to capture changes in HSRNs and assess the impact of resource interventions.
Related
- Trends, patterns, and determinants of dietary supplement use in patients with Type 2 Diabetes Melitus
- Prevalence, predictive factors, and the influential role of physical activity trajectories of cancer-related cognitive impairment among patients newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer.
- Clinical Patterns, Indications, and Determinants of Third Molar Extraction among Dental Patients
- Biopsy-free score for screening myelodysplastic syndrome and related diseases in cytopenic patients
- Heart failure-related pleural effusion: determinants of pleural drainage and predictors of mortality in a cohort of 1372 patients
BibTeX
@article{su2026patterns,
title = {{Patterns of social determinants of health screening and health-related social needs among patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer in a safety-net system.}},
author = {Malcolm Su and Hannah Klatzkow and Ronald Bass and Samar Bhat and Teresita Oaks and Marieshia Person and Shifa Kanjwal and Samira Syed and Arthur S Hong and Deborah G Freeland and Navid Sadeghi},
journal = {Breast cancer research and treatment},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1007/s10549-026-08095-0},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42894053},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Patterns of social determinants of health screening and health-related social needs among patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer in a safety-net system.
AU - Malcolm Su
AU - Hannah Klatzkow
AU - Ronald Bass
AU - Samar Bhat
AU - Teresita Oaks
AU - Marieshia Person
AU - Shifa Kanjwal
AU - Samira Syed
AU - Arthur S Hong
AU - Deborah G Freeland
AU - Navid Sadeghi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/18
JO - Breast cancer research and treatment
DO - 10.1007/s10549-026-08095-0
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42894053
AB - Purpose Various social determinants of health (SDOH) have been shown to negatively impact breast cancer outcomes. Though there are recommendations for comprehensive SDOH assessment, little is known about the optimal frequency of reassessments and change in health-related social needs (HRSN) over time for specific patient populations. We sought to characterize SDOH screening and HRSN patterns among patients with breast cancer in a safety-net system.Methods A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate SDOH survey responses in the electronic medical records and screening frequency from patients diagnosed with breast cancer between January 2021 to January 2024 at Parkland Health.Results There were 566 patients diagnosed with breast cancer with a mean age at diagnosis of 55.0 (standard deviation, SD: 11.4) years. There were 54 (9.5%) with Stage IV breast cancer. Patients were initially at risk for 1.36 (SD: 1.39) out of the 11 HRSN domains. Patients completed an average 17.3 (SD: 8.9) out of 28 questions on initial survey. The most common risk domains identified were Alcohol Use and Food Insecurity. No patients were screened for Interpersonal Violence. The median time from initial survey to first change in risk level for any domain was 8.7 months. Patients with Stage IV disease underwent fewer SDOH re-screenings compared to patients with Stage I, II, and III disease (p < 0.001).Conclusion Within our system, greater attention should be placed towards fully assessing patients' HRSN and screening for interpersonal violence. SDOH screening at 6-month intervals may help to capture changes in HSRNs and assess the impact of resource interventions.
SN - 0167-6806
SN - 1573-7217
ER -