title: Five year survival of women with breast cancer in Yazd.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cancer is a non-communicable disease that is considered deadly in many cases. In recent years, the mortality rates from breast cancer have increased with increasing incidences. The present study was conducted to determine five year survival of women with breast cancer in Yazd, in the central region of Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a prospective study, data were obtained from the patient's medical records with breast cancer that were referred to the Shahid Sadoughi hospital and radiotherapy center from 2002-2007 and followed up for 5 years. The data collected were analyzed by SPSS/16 and Kaplan-Meyer test and log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard model was used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of breast cancer diagnosis was 48.3±11.7 years. The 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-year cumulative survivals for breast cancer patients were 95%, 86%, 82%, 76% and 70%, respectively. There were significant differences with age distribution (p=0.006). A significant decrease in the 5-year survival in patients with involvement of lymph nodes was lso observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Education for early diagnosis in women must be considered and these findings support the need for breast cancer screening programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Research Center of Prevention and Epidemiology of Non-Communicable Disease, Faculty of Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran E-mail : mahdieh_momayyezi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fallahzadeh
authors.forename: Mahdieh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Momayyezi
authors.forename: Razie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Akhundzardeini
authors.forename: Sadegh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zarezardeini
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate