مجله دانشکده پزشکی اصفهان (Mar 2012)
A Study of the Long-Term Trend of Epidemiological and Clinical Indices of Breast Cancer in Isfahan
Abstract
Background: Breast cancer, as the most common cancer among women, is the main cause of death in women aged 45 to 55. Therefore, different novel screening methods and technologies to diagnose and treat the disease in its early stages are of high importance for health systems. The present study aimed to investigate the epidemiological trend, and clinical and treatment indices of breast cancer by collecting available information from Seyed-Al-Shohada Hospital, in Isfahan during 1981-2006. Methods: All available data at Oncology Center of Isfahan Province, related to 1981-2006 were encoded and analyzed. Age groups of the patients, along with all cases of cancer recorded by Statistical Center of Iran, were calculated. After age specific rating (ASR), the resulted indices were evaluated. The frequency of clinical indices, such as tumor, metastasis, chemotherapy, and breast conserving surgery, as well as the frequency of age groups among patients, and the ASR pattern were calculated. Correlational tests and mean comparison were used to analyze the data. Results: Among 4652 breast cancer patients, 98.6% were female and 1.35% were male. Total ASR for breast cancer was calculated as 13 in 1996, 14.1 in 2001, and 18.21 in 2006 in the province of Isfahan. The values were then compared with the rate in the country (25.6) during 2006. The age of patients was 48.79 ± 11 years with 34.65% aging 40-50, and 26.7% aging less than 40 years. The ASR was estimated as approximately 57 in every 100,000 for age groups of 41-50, 51-60, and 61-70. Categorization of patients based on frequency among different age groups and frequency based on ASR did not result in an identical pattern. The relative frequency of tumor sizes obtained from the patients were T1 = 7.6%, T2 = 61.2%, T3 = 27.2% and T4 = 3.8%. In addition, an increasing trend of chemotherapy was observed during the studied period with 71.2% of the patients receiving the treatment. The tendency to perform breast conserving surgery is growing recently and 8.9% of the cases undergone the surgery during 2002-2006. Conclusion: The increasing trend of ASR may indicate improved screening methods, staff training development, and modern disease detection equipments. The data proves that compared with most western countries, Iran is in a low risk region. However, changing people's lifestyle and increasing trend in breast cancer incidence would be a matter of caution for the health system.
