Breast cancer incidence rates under age 40 and mortality rates at all ages are higher in Black women. Black women’s low participation rates in studies may help explain why genetic and environmental factors associated with their disease are not understood. The ongoing Understanding Breast Cancer Causes in African Americans (U-CAAN) study aims to investigate the genetic factors associated with breast cancer. Black women with primary in situ or invasive breast cancer from Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia were eligible to participate in this case-only study. Each statewide registry used a different recruitment strategy. Clinical characteristics from cancer registry records of women who were eligible and those who actually participated were analyzed in order to compare Tennessee’s and South Carolina’s different recruitment strategies. We hypothesized that clinical characteristics of eligible versus actual participants would differ between the two states because of the different recruitment strategies. Clinical characteristics from both registries were compared for eligible and actual participants using t-test and chi-square. Although different recruitment strategies were used, mean age at diagnosis, grade, stage, and histology were statistically comparable between eligible and actual participants in both registries. However, different recruitment strategies may affect the possibility of conducting truly population-based studies using cancer registries.
