Age interactions in breast cancer: an analysis of a 10-year multicentre study in China.
OBJECTIVE
The effects of age at diagnosis on the clinical characteristics of breast cancer and trends over time were investigated in Chinese women.


METHODS
Data from 4211 women with pathologically confirmed primary breast cancer collected between 1999 and 2008 for a multicentre retrospective study were analysed according to age at diagnosis.


RESULTS
Age at diagnosis ranged from 21 to 86 years, with a mean of 48.7 years, and was shown to be significantly related to tumour size, lymph node status, hormone receptor status and human growth factor receptor-2 status, but not to pathological type or tumour, node, metastasis stage. The age-corrected proportion of patients aged 50-64 years at diagnosis increased significantly between 1999 and 2008. There was a significant difference in the age-corrected distribution of age at diagnosis in China compared with Western countries.


CONCLUSIONS
Age at diagnosis is related to the clinical and pathological characteristics of breast cancer. The age at diagnosis in China increased over the decade from 1999 to 2008, but is still lower than in Western countries.
Department of Breast Surgery, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Banshanqiao, Hangzhou, China.
H J
HJ
Yang
X F
XF
Yu
X M
XM
He
J H
JH
Fan
J
J
Li
F
F
Xu
B N
BN
Zhang
Z H
ZH
Tang
S
S
Zheng
Y L
YL
Qiao
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies