title: Age at diagnosis of female breast cancer in Oman: Issues and implications.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Female breast cancer (BC) is the most frequent malignancy diagnosed globally, about 23% of the diagnosed cancers. BC incidence varies geographically, highest in Western Europe and lowest in Africa. BC in females is strongly correlated to age, the highest incidence rate amongst older women reinforcing the importance of hormonal status. BC in young females has an aggressive phenotype. There is a shared observation amongst practicing oncologists that BC in Middle East and the developing world presents at an earlier age.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aims of this study are to evaluate the age at presentation of female BC in Oman, and to compare our data with international and regional published data. It discusses the impact of young age Breast Cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  All diagnosed female BC cases registered from 1996-2010 all over the country, were retrieved from the National Cancer Registry, Ministry of Health. BC cases were analyzed with respect to age at presentation. The data were compared with regional and international data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 14,109 cancer cases were recorded during the period of study. BC was the leading malignancy as 1,294 cases (9.1%). Female BC patients were 1,230; denoting 19.2% of all female cancers. 53.5% of female BC presented below 50 years of age. Male BC constituted 5% of total, with 67% of male BC occurring over 50 years of age. Compared with data from Oman, the highest rates in UK and other Western countries are above 50 years of age. These rates are four to 10 times higher than local in different age groups. Interestingly, these rates increase with increasing age in UK from 40-45 to up to 85+, keep on increasing and go up to four times higher with higher age. This phenomenon, of increasing incidence rates with age, is not observed in our local population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BC is significantly correlated to age as reported from Western population. BC is reported at a younger age from developing and Arab World, which need to be further studied and validated. This phenomenon of BC in younger age may have significant implications and effects ranging from screening, diagnosis, management, prognosis, and cost of treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The impact on young women diagnosed with BC is enormous, ranging from psychosocial to healthcare services and economics. There is a need to study it further in depth in developing World.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, National Oncology Center, Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Itrat
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mehdi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, National Oncology Center, Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Essam Abdul
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Monem
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, National Oncology Center, Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Bassim Jaffar
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Al Bahrani
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, National Oncology Center, Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Suad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al Kharusi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, National Oncology Center, Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Ayman Mohammad
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Nada
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, National Oncology Center, Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Jawad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Al Lawati
authors.affiliation: Directorate of Non-infectious Diseases, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Najla
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Al Lawati
keywords: Breast cancer; breast cancer in Oman; young age; young breast cancer