Elevated Breast Cancer Mortality in Women Younger than Age 40 Years Compared with Older Women Is Attributed to Poorer Survival in Early-Stage Disease

• Published in: Journal of the American College of Surgeons Vol. 208; no. 3; pp. 341 - 347
• Main Authors: Gnerlich, Jennifer L., MD, Deshpande, Anjali D., PhD, Mph, Jeffe, Donna B., PhD, Sweet, Allison, MPH, White, Nick, MPH, Margenthaler, Julie A., MD, Facs
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.03.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Age Distribution; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biological and medical sciences; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Breast Neoplasms - mortality; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Breast Neoplasms - therapy; Cause of Death; Cohort Studies; Confidence Intervals; Disease-Free Survival; Estrogen Receptor alpha - metabolism; Female; General aspects; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Lymphatic Metastasis; Mammary gland diseases; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Neoplasm Staging; Prognosis; Receptors, Progesterone - metabolism; Retrospective Studies; Surgery; Survival Rate; Tumors; PR; estrogen receptor; hazard ratio; SEER; aHR; HR; Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results; human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; acute hazard ratio; ER; HER-2; progesterone receptor; Human; Breast disease; Poverty; Mortality; Early stage; Breast cancer; Malignant tumor; Epidemiology; Survival; Medicine; Mammary gland diseases; Treatment; Surgery; Adult; Female; Mammary gland; Woman; Elderly; Age; Comparative study; Cancer
• ISSN: 1072-7515; 1879-1190
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2008.12.001

Background We investigated differences in breast cancer mortality between younger (younger than 40 years of age) and older (40 years of age and older) women by stage at diagnosis to identify patient and tumor characteristics accounting for disparities. Study Design We conducted a retrospective study of women diagnosed with breast cancer in the 1988 to 2003 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program data. Multivariate Cox regression models calculated adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) and 95% confidence intervals to compare overall and stage-specific breast cancer mortality in women younger than 40 years old and women 40 years and older, controlling for potential confounding variables identified in univariate tests. Results Of 243,012 breast cancer patients, 6.4% were younger than 40 years old, and 93.6% were 40 years of age or older. Compared with older women, younger women were more likely to be African American, single, diagnosed at later stages, and treated by mastectomy. Younger women had tumors that were more likely to be higher grade, larger size, estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor–negative, and lymph-node positive (p < 0.001). Younger women were more likely to die from breast cancer compared with older women (crude HR = 1.39; CI, 1.34 to 1.45). Controlling for confounders, younger women were more likely to die compared with older women if diagnosed with stage I (aHR = 1.44; CI, 1.27 to 1.64) or stage II (aHR = 1.09; CI, 1.03 to 1.15) disease and less likely to die if diagnosed with stage IV disease (aHR = 0.85; CI, 0.76 to 0.95). Conclusions Higher breast cancer mortality in younger women was attributed to poorer outcomes with early-stage disease. Additional studies should focus on specific tumor biology contributing to the increased mortality of younger women with early-stage breast cancer.