{"id":24094,"date":"2026-05-26T15:55:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/?post_type=journal_article&#038;p=24094"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:59:14","slug":"primary-care-continuity-and-breast-cancer-survival","status":"publish","type":"journal_article","link":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/primary-care-continuity-and-breast-cancer-survival\/","title":{"rendered":"Primary care continuity and breast cancer survival: a retrospective cohort study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Purpose<\/strong> \u2014 Primary care provider (PCP) continuity improves many health outcomes, but its impact on breast cancer survival remains unclear. We examined how baseline PCP continuity and use (in the 24 months before diagnosis) relate to overall survival in Ontario women with breast cancer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Methods<\/strong> \u2014 Population-based, retrospective cohort study, using linked provincial-level administrative health databases and cancer registries, including 13,171 women in Ontario diagnosed with stage I\u2013III breast cancer between 2007 and 2012 who received curative surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to examine the association between baseline PCP continuity and use with overall survival, determined up to 31 December 2020, adjusting for age, comorbidity, neighborhood income, and immigration status, and examined cancer stage as a potential mediator.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Results<\/strong> \u2014 No PCP visits in the 24 months before diagnosis were associated with worse survival (HR for death 1.27, 95% CI 1.08\u20131.49). For those with PCP visits, low versus high continuity was not associated with survival in our adjusted analyses (HR 0.98, 95% CI 0.90\u20131.07). Treated linearly, each additional PCP visit in the 24 months before diagnosis, regardless of continuity, was associated with slightly worse survival (HR 1.01 per visit, 95% CI 1.00\u20131.01).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong> \u2014 Baseline PCP continuity was not associated with overall survival in women with breast cancer in Ontario after adjusting for potential confounders. However, having no baseline PCP visits, or having a higher overall number of baseline PCP visits were associated with lower survival. Further research can clarify whether ensuring patients have access to any PCPs at baseline or providing added support for patients with many baseline PCP visits after a breast cancer diagnosis can improve survival outcomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Purpose \u2014 Primary care provider (PCP) continuity improves many health outcomes, but its impact on breast cancer survival remains unclear. We examined how baseline PCP continuity and use (in the 24 months before diagnosis) relate to overall survival in Ontario women with breast cancer. Methods \u2014 Population-based, retrospective cohort study, using linked provincial-level administrative health [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","migration-helper-automated":[],"migration-manual":[],"topic":[38,62,28],"migration-helper-qa-sample-set":[],"class_list":["post-24094","journal_article","type-journal_article","status-publish","hentry","topic-cancer-and-cancer-screening","topic-health-services-research","topic-primary-care"],"acf":{"citation":"Walsh R, Lofters A, Groome P, Moineddin R, Krzyzanowska MK, Griffiths R, Grunfeld E. <em>Cancer Causes Control<\/em>. 2026; 37(6): 92.","source_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10552-026-02176-7","ices_scientist":[1292,1151],"site":[6733],"research_program":[6741],"news_release":"","journal_article":"","atlas":"","research_report":"","infographic":"","video":"","downloads":null,"links":null,"sitecore_item_id":"","sitecore_item_name":"","sitecore_field_values":"","previous_url":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ICES | Primary care continuity and breast cancer survival: a retrospective cohort study<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Purpose \u2014 Primary care provider (PCP) continuity improves many health outcomes, but its impact on breast cancer survival remains unclear. We examined how\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/primary-care-continuity-and-breast-cancer-survival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ICES | Primary care continuity and breast cancer survival: a retrospective cohort study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Purpose \u2014 Primary care provider (PCP) continuity improves many health outcomes, but its impact on breast cancer survival remains unclear. 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