Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2004 Jan 22:2:2.
doi: 10.1186/1477-7819-2-2.

Do younger women with non-metastatic and non-inflammatory breast carcinoma have poor prognosis?

Aleyamma Mathew  1 , Manoj Pandey, Balakrishnan Rajan
Affiliations

Do younger women with non-metastatic and non-inflammatory breast carcinoma have poor prognosis?

Aleyamma Mathew et al. World J Surg Oncol. .

Abstract

Background: Controversy abounds over whether breast cancer in younger women is more aggressive than those in older. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of age on long-term survival of women with breast carcinoma.

Materials and methods: Patients with non-metastatic and non-inflammatory invasive breast carcinoma treated at the Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, Kerala, India during 1990-93 were divided into 4 age groups as < 40 years, 40-49, 50-59, and > 60 years. The overall survival (OS) for each age group was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method in relation to the primary tumor (T) and the axillary node status (N). The OS of the various age groups were compared using the log-rank test. Hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval for each age group was estimated using Cox-regression model after adjusting for T and N.

Results: Between 1990-1993, 1701 women (26%, <40 years) reported with non-metastatic and non-inflammatory invasive breast carcinoma. Overall survival (OS) of all the women was 52.6 % (standard error 1%) at 10 years. The OS for women with age < 40 years and with T3 and T4 disease status was 36.6% and 10.4% respectively and for those in 40-49 age group was 41.9% and 33.5%. The 10-year OS for women with node positive (N1) disease was 24.6% in < 40 years and 45.2% in the 40-49 age group (p = 0.0006). After adjusting for tumor and node stage the relative risk for death was 24% lower for women in 40-49 age group as compared to women <40 years of age.

Conclusion: Women under 40 years with T3/ T4 breast lesions and/or positive axillary nodes were found to have a significantly poorer survival.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overall Survival of women with breast carcinoma (N = 1701)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overall Survival of women with breast cancer by age group
Figure 3
Figure 3
Overall Survival of women with T1 breast cancer by age group
Figure 4
Figure 4
Overall Survival of women with T2 breast cancer by age group
Figure 5
Figure 5
Overall Survival of women with T3 breast cancer by age group
Figure 6
Figure 6
Overall Survival of women with T4 breast cancer by age group
Figure 7
Figure 7
Survival of women with node negative breast carcinoma by age group
Figure 8
Figure 8
Survival of women with node negative breast carcinoma by age group
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kroman N, Jensen M-B, Wohlfahrt J, Mouridsen HT, Anderson PK, Melbye M. Factors influencing the effect of age on prognosis in breast cancer: population based study. Br Med J. 2000;320:474–479. doi: 10.1136/bmj.320.7233.474. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vanlemmen L, Hebbar M, Peyrat JP, Bonneterre J. Age as a prognostic factor in breast cancer. Anti Cancer Research. 1998;18:1891–1896. - PubMed
    1. Tsuchiya A, Abe R, Kanno M, Ohtake T, Fukushima T, Nomizu T, Kimijima I. Role of age as a prognostic factor in breast cancer. Jpn J Surg. 1997;27:213–216. - PubMed
    1. Chung M, Chang HR, Bland KI, Wanebo HJ. Younger women with breast carcinoma have a poorer prognosis than older women. Cancer. 1996;77:97–103. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0142(19960101)77:1<97::AID-CNCR16>3.3.CO;2-T. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bonnier P, Romain S, Charpin C, Lejeune C, Tubiana N, Martin PM, et al. Age as a prognostic factor in breast cancer: relationship to pathologic and biologic features. Int J Cancer. 1995;62:138–144. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources