Abstract P3-07-08: Recent trends in the characteristics of patients with distant stage breast cancer in the United States Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Stage Disease (SEER) program

Abstract

Abstract Objectives. Even though advances in screening and contemporary diagnostic techniques have led to earlier detection, a proportion of breast cancer patients are still diagnosed with distant stage disease. The objective of this research was to describe the changing demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with distant stage breast cancer. Methods. We identified women aged 20 years or older who were diagnosed with distant stage primary breast cancer between 1995 and 2009 with non-missing hormone receptor (HR) status in the SEER 18 Registry (1973–2009) database. As staging systems changed across the years of the study, we opted to use the SEER historic stage in our analyses. Trends in demographic and clinical characteristics were evaluated by time period of diagnosis (1995–1999, 2000–2004, 2005–2009) and HR status (HR+ includes ER+/PR+, ER+/PR- and ER−/PR+; HR− includes ER−/PR− only). Statistically significant changes were examined using the Cochran Armitage test. Results. A total of 30,161 women with distant stage breast cancer were identified. Over the 15 years, the incidence rate (IR) of distant stage disease was stable (10.6 to 10.9 per 100,000 pys), as well as the proportion of HR+ cases (68%). Age did not vary significantly over time; 55% of the HR+ cases and 45% of the HR- cases were 60 years or older. The proportion of Black and Hispanic patients increased significantly over time (18 to 24% for HR+; 24 to 33% for HR−) -as did the proportion of patients diagnosed with grades I and II cancers (44 to 54% for HR+; and 16 to 20% for HR−). The proportion of ductal histologic diagnoses was stable over time, at 77% among HR+ cases and 93% among HR- cases in 2005–2009. Cancer-directed surgeries (from 63 to 47% for HR+; 72 to 56% for HR−) and radiation therapies (43 to 37% for HR+; 42 to 38% for HR−) became less common over the time. Information on chemotherapy/systemic therapies is unavailable in this dataset. Conclusions. Although, incidence rate of distant stage breast cancer was stable over a time, there was a higher proportion of diagnosis of grade I/II stage cancer cases potentially due to earlier cancer detections by screening programs. The growing proportion of minorities suggested that screening programs be adjusted to the changing demographics in the United States. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2012;72(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-07-08.