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Clinical features and prognostic factors of breast cancer in young women: a retrospective single-center study

  • Gynecologic Oncology
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

This research aims to characterize the differences in clinical features and prognostic factors between younger and older breast cancer (BC) patients in China.

Methods

All patients who were recently diagnosed with BC between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2016 at Shanxi Province Cancer Hospital were recruited. We collected the epidemiological and clinical data as well as the follow-up information.

Results

Out of the 1968 BC patients who met the criteria for analysis, 227 (11.53%) were under 40 years of age with a median age of 34 years at diagnosis. All patients were classified into the age < 40, age 40–59, and age ≥ 60 groups. There were significant differences in the histology, tumor size, T stage, grade, and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) levels among the three groups (all P < 0.05). The 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 86.34%, 89.58%, and 84.84% for the age < 40, age 40–59, and age ≥ 60 groups, respectively. The TNM stage was the only predictor of clinical outcome in all BC patients. The prognostic value of intrinsic subtypes for OS was different among the three groups.

Conclusion

Our study helped identify an age-related prognostic indicator of adverse events in BC patients and showed that young women with BC exhibited more aggressive clinical and pathological features. Our findings may facilitate clinical management and therapeutic interventions in young BC patients, especially in young women with a history of exposure to risk factors and age < 40 years.

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Funding

This research was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province, China (201701D121167).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Etiology and Tumor Marker Laboratory, Shanxi Province Cancer Hospital, Taiyuan, 3# Zhigongxin street, Xinghualing District, 030013, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Weigang Wang, Baoguo Tian, Xiaoqin Xu, Xiaofang Zhang, Yan Wang, Lili Du & Jiexian Jing

  2. Shanxi Hospital Affiliated to Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Taiyuan, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Weigang Wang, Baoguo Tian, Xiaoqin Xu, Xiaofang Zhang, Yan Wang, Lili Du & Jiexian Jing

  3. Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Weigang Wang, Baoguo Tian, Xiaoqin Xu, Xiaofang Zhang, Yan Wang, Lili Du & Jiexian Jing

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  1. Weigang Wang
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  2. Baoguo Tian
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Contributions

Conception or design of the work: LD and JJ. Data collection and follow-up: WW, BT, and YW. Data analysis and interpretation: XX and XZ. Drafting the article: WW and LD. Critical revision of the article: JJ. Final approval of the version to be published: JJ.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jiexian Jing.

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The authors have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

All the procedures performed in this study involving human participants were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of Medical Ethics Committee of Shanxi Province Cancer Hospital and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments. The study consent from all the patients involved in our study, which was approved by Medical Ethics Committee of Shanxi Province Cancer Hospital.

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Wang, W., Tian, B., Xu, X. et al. Clinical features and prognostic factors of breast cancer in young women: a retrospective single-center study. Arch Gynecol Obstet 307, 957–968 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-022-06670-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-022-06670-6

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