Julie Prudhomme’s career
After completing a Master’s degree in public health and a PhD in epigenetics, Julie Prudhomme moved from laboratory research to field epidemiology before finally joining Programme 3 of SIRIC ILIAD in March 2025. Before arriving in Nantes, she had a varied professional career that took her to Canada, the United States, Senegal and French Guiana. Julie Prudhomme is now based at the Loire-Atlantique Vendée Cancer Registry, headed by Florence Molinié (who is also co-coordinator of Programme 3, SICAJOB, at SIRIC ILIAD), and is working on the epidemiology of breast cancer.
The Registre des Cancers de Loire-Atlantique Vendée
Comprising epidemiologists, survey officers and data entry technicians, the Loire-Atlantique Vendée Cancer Register has been comprehensively recording all new cases of cancer diagnosed in residents of these two departments since 1998.
As breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, the Register focuses on this disease, as part of the SIRIC ILIAD project (WP9), by utilising the data for research purposes, with a view to helping improve the management of this cancer.
Julie Prudhomme’s research topic
« Plusieurs études ont montré que la défavorisation sociale est associée à une survie plus faible au cancer du sein. Je mène des analyses épidémiologiques pour identifier les déterminants de cette disparité afin, à terme, de réduire les inégalités sociales dans la prise en charge du cancer du sein » Julie Prudhomme
Generally speaking, socio-economically disadvantaged women have a lower incidence of breast cancer and, paradoxically, a higher mortality rate. This finding partly reflects differences in exposure to cancer risk factors and in access to the healthcare system for cancer diagnosis and screening; these differences themselves have an impact on the stage, prognosis and treatment of the disease. Indeed, the earlier the cancer is diagnosed, the better the chances of survival. Although breast cancer has a relatively favourable prognosis (around 88 per cent survival rate five years after diagnosis), social disadvantage is associated with an increased risk of mortality, and it is therefore essential to understand the causes of this in order to address them.
Since March 2025, Julie Prudhomme has been researching the factors underlying the link between social inequalities and breast cancer survival. It has been shown that the most socially disadvantaged women are generally diagnosed at a more advanced stage of breast cancer and therefore have poorer survival prospects. However, even at the same stage of cancer, an increased risk of mortality persists among socially disadvantaged women, suggesting that other factors are also at play. Using data from five French cancer registries (Côte d’Or, Doubs, Hérault, Isère and Loire-Atlantique/Vendée), statistical tests and models will be used to assess the respective influence of access to care, the quality of treatment and comorbidities on the association between social disadvantage and breast cancer survival, whilst taking into account known prognostic factors such as age and stage at diagnosis.
The results obtained will help to identify the determinants of the social deprivation gradient in breast cancer survival in France, with a high degree of representativeness thanks to the comprehensiveness of the registry data and the participation of five registries covering six departments with contrasting characteristics. This knowledge will assist health authorities in planning the healthcare system, and more targeted measures aimed at the populations most affected by social inequalities in health could be considered in order to reduce breast cancer mortality.
definitions
Epidemiology: the science that studies, within populations (human, animal or even plant), the frequency and distribution of health problems over time and space, as well as the role of the factors that determine them. Larousse
Incidence: the number of new cases of a disease in a population over a given period of time. Larousse
