Younger women with breast carcinoma have a poorer prognosis than older women

Abstract

Our results indicate that women 40 years of age and younger have a worse 5CSS than their older counterparts. This difference in survival is not solely a reflection of more advanced disease but may reflect differences in tumor biology.

Hormone receptors and proliferation in breast carcinomas of equivalent histologic grades in pre‐ and postmenopausal women

“…These results are similar to those in previous studies in which cases were not selected to control for histologic grade or type. 3,8,12,49 Although the premenopausal women in our study presented with a higher stage of disease, overall survival in the pre-and postmenopausal women was similar. When comparing overall survival in women with high-and low-grade carcinomas, those with highgrade carcinomas had a worse prognosis, but, unexpectedly, this difference was largely a result of the particularly poor outcome of premenopausal women with high-grade carcinomas.…”

“…Studies examining this issue have varied in design, age categorization and outcome measures. A few large population-based studies and more limited analyses [1][2][3][4][5] have indicated that women under the ages of 30 -40 years have a worse prognosis. Some retrospective studies have attempted to explain the less favorable outcome in younger women and have reported that breast cancers in younger women exhibit more adverse characteristics, including a high clinical stage at diagnosis, high histologic grade, lack of steroid hormone receptors and increased proliferation.…”

“…6 -9 Multivariate analyses to assess associations of age and menopausal status with other clinical and pathologic characteristics have not consistently retained either variable as an independent adverse prognosticator, 8 although several multivariate analyses have indicated that young age or premenopausal status are independent predictors of disease recurrence. 10 -13 In addition, a few studies have found that those women at the extremes of age, i.e., premenopausal women younger than 33 years of age 11 or postmenopausal women older than 80 -85 years of age, 3,14 had a worse prognosis than other age groups.…”

Outcomes of Triple-Negative Versus Non-Triple-Negative Breast Cancers Managed with Breast-Conserving Therapy

“…It is believed that factors like young age and poor differentiation of triple negative cancers contribute to their aggressive nature (Mersin et al, 2008;Kwan et al, 2009;Dawood et al, 2010). These factors have been shown to be independent predictors of outcome in breast cancer patients (Adami et al, 1986;Chung et al, 1996;Sidoni et al, 2003;Sharif et al, 2010). Lack of effectiveness of hormonal therapy limits the medical options available for management of TNBC.…”

Familial aggregation of breast/ovarian cancer: age of onset along subsequent generations in Brazil

“…T h e re f o re, bre a s t cancer is mainly a post-menopausal disease, affecting around 4% of women below 35 yrs. old (Chung et al, 1996) and 7% below 40 yrs. old ( Wi n c h e s t e r, 1996).…”