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Table 3 Characteristics of 489 patients diagnosed during the time period of 2000 to 2002 with ER + or PR + 1–3 LN + ESBC stratified by menopausal status and risk of recurrence using Canadian clinical practice guidelines

From: Cost-effectiveness of a 21-gene recurrence score assay versus Canadian clinical practice in women with early-stage estrogen- or progesterone-receptor-positive, axillary lymph-node negative breast cancer

Characteristic

Pre-menopausal women (n = 109)

Post-menopausal women (n = 389)

ρ value†

Low risk*

Intermediate risk*

High risk*

Overall

Low risk*

Intermediate risk*

High risk*

Overall

(n = 11)

(n = 78)

(n = 20)

(n = 109)

(n = 115)

(n = 196)

(n = 78)

(n = 389)

Age ( years)

         

Mean (range)

41.8

43.6

42.7

43

63.4

64

61.8

63

 

(30 – 49)

(29 – 49)

(33–49)

(29–49)

(50–85)

(50 – 88)

(50–86)

(50–88)

 

<40

3 (27.3)

17 (21.8)

4 (20)

24 (22)

―

―

―

―

 

40 – 49

8 (72.7)

61 (78.2)

16 (80)

85 (78)

―

―

―

―

 

50 – 64

―

―

―

―

64 (55.7)

111 (56.6)

53 (68)

228 (58.6)

 

≥65

―

―

―

―

51 (44.3)

85 (43.4)

25 (32)

161 (41.4)

 

Primary tumour size – no. of women (%)

         

<2 cm

11 (100)

51 (65.4)

7 (35)

69 (63.3)

115 (100)

117 (59.7)

17 (21.8)

260 (66.8)

.78

2-5 cm

0

27 (34.6)

11 (55)

38 (34.9)

0

79 (40.3)

55 (70.5)

123 (31.7)

 

>5 cm

0

0

2 (10)

2 (1.8)

0

0

6 (7.7)

6 (1.5)

 

Receptor status – no. of women (%)

         

ER + and PR-

0

11 (14.1)

7 (35)

18 (16.6)

25 (21.7)

54 (27.5)

30 (38.5)

109 (28)

.016

ER- and PR+

0

4 (5.2)

3 (15)

7 (6.4)

1 (0.9)

4 (2.1)

6 (7.7)

11 (2.8)

 

ER + and PR+

11 (100)

63 (80.7)

10 (50)

84 (77)

89 (77.4)

138 (70.4)

42 (53.8)

269 (69.2)

 

Tumour grade – no. of women (%)

         

1

6 (54.5)

14 (18)

1 (5)

21 (19.3)

89 (77.4)

17 (8.7)

1(1.3)

107 (27.5)

.37

2

0

50 (64.1)

5 (25)

55 (50.5)

0

160 (81.6)

21 (26.9)

181 (46.5)

 

3

0

5 (6.4)

14 (70)

19 (17.4)

0

6 (3)

53 (68)

59 (15.2)

 

Unknown

5 (45.5)

9 (11.5)

0

14 (12.8)

26 (22.6)

13 (6.7)

3 (3.8)

42 (10.8)

 

Stage

         

I

11 (100)

55 (70.5)

7 (35)

73 (67)

115 (100)

145 (74)

21 (26.9)

281 (72.2)

.56

IIA

0

23 (29.5)

11 (55)

34 (31.2)

0

51 (26)

51 (65.4)

102 (26.2)

 

IIB

0

0

2 (10)

2 (1.8)

0

0

6 (7.7)

6 (1.6)

 

With Breast-surgery‡ − no. of women (%)

11 (100)

78 (100)

20 (100)

109 (100)

115 (100)

196 (100)

78 (100)

389 (100)

 

Breast-conserving surgery

8 (72.7)

51 (65.4)

9 (45)

68 (62.4)

65 (56.5)

113 (57.7)

29 (37.2)

207 (53.4)

.08

Mastectomy

3 (27.3)

27 (34.6)

11 (55)

41 (37.6)

50 (43.5)

83 (42.3)

49 (62.8)

182 (46.6)

 

With Radiotherapy‡ − no. of women (%)

7 (63.6)

51 (65.4)

11 (55)

69 (63.3)

62 (54)

109 (55.6)

30 (38.5)

201 (51.7)

.03

With Endocrine therapy‡ − no. of women (%)

5 (45.4)

65 (83.3)

18 (90)

88 (81)

91 (79.1)

165 (84.1)

53 (67.9)

309 (79.4)

.76

Tamoxifen

5 (100)

49 (75.4)

13 (72)

67 (76.1)

61 (67)

104 (63)

31 (58.5)

196 (63.4)

.02

Aromatase inhibitors + tamoxifen

0

13 (20)

4 (22)

17 (19.3)

25 (27.5)

48 (29)

18 (34)

91 (29.5)

 

Aromatase inhibitors

0

1 (1.5)

0

1 (1.2)

5 (5.5)

10 (6)

3 (5.7)

18 (5.8)

 

Unknown type

0

2 (3)

1 (5.5)

3 (3.4)

0

3 (2)

1 (1.8)

4 (1.3)

 

With adjuvant chemotherapy‡ − no. of women (%)

3 (27.3)

51 (65.4)

20 (100)

74 (69)

3 (2.6)

28 (14.3)

42 (53.8)

73 (18.8)

<.0001

No anthracyclines

0

17 (33.3)

5 (25)

22 (35.6)

1

9 (32.1)

16 (38.1)

26 (29.7)

.88

Anthracyclines, no taxanes

3 (100)

29 (56.9)

12 (60)

44 (54.8)

1

16 (57.1)

23 (54.8)

40 (59.5)

 

Anthracyclines and taxanes

0

2 (3.9)

2 (10)

4 (4.1)

0

0

3 (7.1)

3 (5.4)

 

Unkown type

0

3 (5.9)

1 (5)

4 (5.5)

1

3 (10.8)

0

4 (5.4)

 

Loco-regional recurrence event – no. of women (%)

0

4 (5.1)

2 (10)

7 (6.4)

1 (.86)

2 (1)

10 (12.8)

13 (3.3)

.14

Distant recurrence event – no. of women (%)

0

3 (3.8)

3 (15)

6 (5.5)

2 (1.7)

10 (5.1)

14 (17.9)

26 (6.7)

.65

Deaths – no. of women (%)

0

3 (3.8)

3 (15)

6 (5.5)

10 (8.6)

31 (15.8)

22 (28.2)

63 (16.2)

.004

Charlson co-morbidity score mean (SE, range)

0

0.10

0.05

0.08

0.11

0.20

0.19

0.18

.028

   

(0.03, 0–2)

   

(0.03, 0–6)

 

Charlson co-morbidity score – no. of women (%)

         

0

11 (100)

71 (91)

19 (95)

101(92.6)

104 (90.4)

171 (87.3)

69 (88.4)

344 (88.4)

.86

1

0

6 (7.7)

1 (5)

7 (6.4)

9 (7.8)

18 (9.2)

6 (7.7)

33 (8.4)

 

2

0

1 (1.3)

0

1 (1)

2 (1.8)

3 (1.5)

1 (1.3)

6 (1.5)

 

3

0

0

0

0

0

2 (1)

1 (1.3)

3 (.8)

 

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

1 (1.3)

1 (.3)

 

5

 

0

0

0

0

0

1 (.5)

0

1 (.3)

 

6

0

0

0

0

 

0

1 (.5)

0

1 (.3)

 
  1. * Categorization of a patient’s risk for recurrence as low, intermediate, or high was according to the Canadian clinical practice guidelines [4]. Low risk: Post-menopausal women with primary tumour size < 2 cm and tumour grade = 1; pre-menopausal women with primary tumour size < 1cm and tumour grade =1. High risk: All women with tumour size >3 cm, or women with tumour size ≥ 1 cm and ≤ 3 cm with tumour grade = 3. Intermediate risk: Post-menopausal women with tumour size < 2 cm and tumour grade > 1, or tumour size ≥ 2 cm and < 3 cm and tumour grade = 1 or 2; premenopausal women with tumour size < 1 cm and tumour grade >, or tumour size ≥ 1 cm and < 3 cm and tumour grade = 1 or 2. Given the significant correlation between tumour size, lymphatic and vascular invasion [35], and tumour grade [66], lymphatic and vascular invasion was not used in categorizing patients’ risk because the Manitoba cancer registry does not collect this information and 52 patients ‘risk for recurrence was categorized on the basis of tumour size only because their tumors size < 3 cm with undetermined tumours grade.
  2. † The p-value was calculated for overall pre- vs. overall post-menopausal women. Fisher’s exact and chi-square tests were used for binary and categorical variables respectively. Distributions of continuous variables were summarized by their means and standard errors and compared using t-tests.
  3. ‡ Women were defined as having received any of these treatments for their primary breast cancer if the International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) procedure code or the Canadian Classification of Health Interventions (CCI) procedure code of any of these treatments was found before any recurrence, second primary cancer or death within one year of diagnosis with ESBC.
  4. Co-morbid diagnoses were considered present if they were found during one year before and 6 months after the diagnosis with primary breast cancer.
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BMC Cancer

ISSN: 1471-2407

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