Increasing Mortality in Korean Patients With Breast Cancer: High Mortality Rate in Elderly Breast Cancer Population Due to Suboptimal Treatment and Other Diseases

• Published in: Cancer control 2021-01, Vol.28, p.10732748211037914-10732748211037914
• Main Authors: Choi, Hyangsuk, Noh, Hany, Kim, Kwang-Min, Cho, In-Jeong, Lim, Seungtaek, Han, Airi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; Breast Neoplasms - mortality; Breast Neoplasms - surgery; Chemotherapy; Disease-Free Survival; Female; Humans; Invasiveness; Mastectomy - methods; Medical prognosis; Middle Aged; Mortality; Neoplasm Staging; Original; Patients; Republic of Korea - epidemiology; Retrospective Studies; Risk Assessment - methods; Risk Factors; Survival; Survival Rate - trends; Tumors; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1073-2748; 1526-2359; 1073-2748
• DOI: 10.1177/10732748211037914

Background The incidence of breast cancer in Asia, including Korea, has rapidly increased. Each country has shown different clinical features. This study presents a comprehensive understanding of breast cancer in different age groups in Korea and determines potential measures for improving patient survival. Methods Patients diagnosed with invasive breast cancer stages I to III with available clinicopathologic and follow-up data were included in the study. Kaplan–Meier survival graphs were generated for each group and compared using log-rank test. The hazard ratio for each risk factor was calculated using the Cox regression model and the 95% confidence interval. Results The final cohort included 833 patients with a mean age of 51.3±11.3 years (range, 22–89 years), and 191 (22.9%) of them were aged >60 years. Patients aged ≥60 years had worse overall survival (OS) and distant disease-free survival than those aged