Sociodemographic and clinicopathologic features of elderly breast cancer patients in Brazil: A sub-analysis of AMAZONA III study (GBCAM 0115).

Abstract

e12603 Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common invasive cancer diagnosed in women worldwide. The risk of developing BC increases with age. Studies have shown that approximately up to half of BC cases occur in patients aged 65 years and older. To better understand and characterize elderly patients with BC in Brazil, we performed a sub analysis of AMAZONA III study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02663973). Methods: The AMAZONA III study (GBCAM 0115) is a prospective cohort study that included 2,950 women with newly diagnosed invasive BC from January 2016 to March 2018 in 23 Brazilian sites. For this sub analysis, only BC patients aged 65 years and older were included. To compare sociodemographic and clinicopathologic features we classify patients into two groups: cohort 65 to 75 years of age and cohort 75 years and older. Qualitative variables were described by absolute and relative frequencies and compared with Chi-square test. Results: Of 2,950 BC patients from AMAZONA IIII study, 602 (20.8%) were ≥ 65 years-old and were included in this sub analysis. Most patients (93.1%) had ECOG performance status 0-1, 63.4% were white. In terms of educational level, 68.6% had reported completing primary school or less. At diagnosis, 23.7% of patients had clinical stage (CS) I, 41.9% had CS II, 28.2% had CS III, and 6.2% had CS IV disease. The majority of BC were detected by symptoms and only 34.2% were detected by screening. Regarding pathological characteristics, half of cases were grade 2, 58.7% were hormone receptor positive, 25% were HER-2 positive, and 16.0% were triple negative. When evaluated by subgroup, patients from cohort 75 years and older were more frequently diagnosed at advanced clinical stages and had worse ECOG performance status at diagnosis. There was no statistically significant difference in molecular subtype, tumor grade, and mode of BC detection (Table). Conclusions: Elderly patients commonly had BC detected by symptoms. Patients from cohort 75 years and older are diagnosed more frequently with advanced disease and worse performance status than patients from cohort 65 to 75 years. Strategies to improve BC screening and educational programs among elderly patients are warranted to guarantee accessibility to early BC diagnosis.[Table: see text]