Equal treatment leads to similar outcomes for African American and white women treated for triple-negative breast cancer, according to a recent research letter. Screening mammography can improve outcomes for both groups.

Authors from Detroit and New York City identified and studied 243 TNBC cases diagnosed between 2011 and 2015 in order to evaluate outcomes among patients who had self-reported as African American or white. The patients, of which 106 were African American and 87 were white, were followed up with until death, loss to follow-up, or study termination in April 2018. The investigators wrote that mammography screening-detected cancers were found on routinely scheduled mammography in cases where there was an absence of clinical symptoms.

“Screening mammography successfully detected early stage TNBC, improving outcomes for both African American and white American patients,” the study authors wrote in conclusion. “Screening mammography is therefore an important strategy for reducing race/ethnicity-associated breast cancer disparities by optimizing overall survival for both population subsets.”

Read more at American Journal of Managed Care. Find the letter in JAMA Surgery.