title: Female breast symptoms in patients attended in the family medicine practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  there are few studies on breast symptoms (BS) in patients attended at primary care units in Mexico. The aim was to determine the frequency and types of BS overall and by age-group and establish which BS were related to diagnosis of breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  data from all female patients with a breast-disease-related diagnosis, attended from 2006 to 2010, at the Family Medicine Unit 38, were collected. The frequencies of BS were determined by four age-groups (< 19, 20-49, 50-69, > 70 years) and likelihood ratios for breast cancer for each breast-related symptom patient, with a 95 % confidence interval (CI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  the most frequent BS in the study population were lump/mass (71.7 %) and breast pain (67.7 %) of all breast complaints, and they were more noted in women age group of 20-49 years. Overall, 120 women had breast cancer diagnosed with a median age of 53.51 + 12.7 years. Breast lump/mass had positive likelihood ratios for breast cancer 4.53 (95 % CI = 2.51-8.17) and breast pain had increased negative LR = 1.08 (95 % CI = 1.05-1.11).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  breast lump/mass was the predominant presenting complaint among females with breast symptoms in our primary care unit, and it was associated with elevated positive likelihood of breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Medicina Familiar 38, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. koga_23@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: González-Pérez
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salas-Flores
authors.forename: María Lucero
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Sosa-López
authors.forename: Carlos Eduardo
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Barrientos-Guerrero
authors.forename: Claudia Magdalena
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hernández-Aguilar
authors.forename: Diana Edith
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Gómez-Contreras
authors.forename: Jorge Arturo
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Garza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001941:Breast Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: atención primaria de salud; breast neoplasms; breast symptoms; enfermedades de la mama; neoplasias de la mama; primary health care