Study: Poorer Prognosis for Women Diagnosed With Breast Cancer Before Age 30

The prognosis for women with breast cancer is less encouraging if they are diagnosed with breast cancer while under 30 years old, according to researchers at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

A group of 185 women, age 30 and under, was identified in the Tumor Registry Database who had been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 1985 and 1995.

Of the 185 women in the study, 11 percent had stage I breast cancer, 45 percent had Stage II, 38 percent had State III, and 6 percent had Stage IV. Eight of the Stage I patients had a mastectomy and 13 had breast conserving surgery (BCS). Of the patients with Stage II cancer, 66 had a mastectomy and 17 received BCS. Sixty-five women with Stage III cancer had a mastectomy and five were given BCS.

The five year overall survival rate was 87 percent for patients in Stage I, 60 percent for Stage II, 42 percent for Stage III and 16 percent for Stage IV breast cancer, according to the study published in the journal Cancer.

"These results support previous observations that women who have a diagnosis of breast carcinoma at a young age have a poorer prognosis compared with their older counterparts," said Dr. Qinghua Xiong.

Other Sources: Cancer