Rehabilitation on equal terms - A study focusing on recovery and mortality of migrated women with breast cancer: The ReMig study

Annually, over 2 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer (BC) globally, of which about 8300 in Sweden.

Today, 20% of the Swedish population is foreign born and previous research has shown that women who have migrated are particularly vulnerable when diagnosed with BC.

Research focusing on migrated women is sparse as they are often excluded from research, but available research shows that experience and management of BC differs depending on ethnicity, that the women to a lesser extent participate in BC screening and rehabilitation and that they have a higher mortality than Swedish born women.

In recent years, measures to promote early BC diagnosis have been initiated, but knowledge of how optimized rehabilitation should be ensured to promote recovery and reduce the socioeconomic burden is lacking.

The ReMig-study aims to increase knowledge about rehabilitation needs, the rehabilitation process and mortality of migrated women from Iraq and Syria with BC, to increase the prerequisites for optimized and equal cancer care.

The project includes four studies aiming to 1) explore the evidence base of BC rehabilitation for migrant women, 2) explore differences between migrated women from Iraq and Syria and Swedish born women in survival, complications, sick leave and healthcare consumption and to identify predictors of increased risk of complications and mortality, 3) compare BC rehabilitation of migrated and Swedish born women with a focus on physical and psychological recovery, living habits and satisfaction, and rehabilitation goals and 4) to explore migrated women´s experience of BC-rehabilitation.

The goal of the project is to increase knowledge about BC-rehabilitation for migrated women.

This knowledge is needed to develop tools to identify and meet rehabilitation needs regardless of ethnic origin structurally and systematically.