title: Attending breast cancer screening alone does not explain the detection of tumours at an early stage.
abstract: The goal of a screening programme is to allow tumour detection at an early stage when treatments are more effective and less invasive. We examined whether attending breast cancer (BC) screening alone can explain the discovery of tumours at an early stage. Women aged 50-74 years, with a first BC diagnosed from January 2006 to December 2008, were eligible. Patients' personal and family characteristics before their BC diagnosis were collected through a questionnaire. Their tumour characteristics were provided by the Côte d'Or BC registry and staging was performed according to the criteria of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) to provide early-stage (AJCC 0/1) and advanced-stage (AJCC 2/3/4) BC. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the predictive factors for the discovery of BC at an early stage. Data from 533 patients with a BC diagnosed from January 2006 to December 2008 were used. Among them, 353 patients (66.2%) had early-stage BC whereas 175 patients (32.8%) had advanced-stage BC. Patients attending mammography screening were more likely to have had early-stage BC (P=0.0003). Multivariate analyses showed that being aged 63-74 years (P=0.008) and having had a previous regular medical follow-up (P=0.02) were independent predictors for the discovery of an early-stage BC. Mammography screening certainly allowed the discovery of BC at an early stage when performed according to the recommended 2-year interval. The regular use of health services could also contribute towards the early detection of tumours and thus towards a reduction in BC mortality.
authors: Breast and Gynaecologic Cancer Registry of Côte d'Or, Georges-François Leclerc Comprehensive Cancer Center, 21000 Dijon, France.
authors: Samiratou
authors: S
authors: Ouédraogo
authors: Tienhan Sandrine
authors: TS
authors: Dabakuyo
authors: Julie
authors: J
authors: Gentil
authors: Marie-Laure
authors: ML
authors: Poillot
authors: Vincent
authors: V
authors: Dancourt
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Arveux
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000639:trends*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012042:Registries; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires