Comparing Stage at Diagnosis among Breast Cancer Patients Served by Military and Civilian Medical Care Systems

Breast cancer (BC) remains one of the top cancer deaths in women in the United States and little is known about differences in access to health care between military and civilians. This study will compare differences, if any, of access to health care between military and civilian female breast cancer (BC) patients. In particular, this study will examine whether BC patients in an equal access health care system such as the military get diagnosed at an earlier stage of disease process in comparison to the BC patients in the civilian health care system. This study is relying on the cancer staging theory and is based on differences in access to health care. The independent variables include military vs. civilian care and demographic variables. The dependent variable is the stage of cancer at diagnosis. The total sample size of 430 was calculated using Open Epi version 2.3.1. This cross-sectional retrospective study of two groups will include data for years 2004 through 2008. Multiple regression analysis will be used to test the hypothesis and control for confounders. The social change implication from this research study is the better understanding of the differences in access to care between the military equal access health care system and the civilian health care system as well as the potential of using the results of this study to further the support for the social, economical and political debate over providing an equal access health care system to all Americans in the United States.