Long-term Survivorship of Breast Cancer Patients and Its Prognostic Factors: A Tertiary Oncological Center Experience in Penang

ABSTRACT

@#Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death among women. The purpose of this study is to determine the 5-years survival rate and prognostic factors among breast cancer patients in a tertiary oncological centre in Penang, Malaysia. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia. All 214 cases of breast cancer diagnosed from 1st January 2008 until 31st December 2012 were selected and retrospectively followed-up until 31st December 2017. The survival status for this study was referring to the record of the National Registration of Malaysia. Kaplan-Meier with Log-rank test and Cox regression were used for the univariable and multivariable analysis, respectively. Results: The mean (SD) age at diagnosis was 50.98 (±10.75) years. The majority of the patients were Malay (55.7%) and married (96.5%). After controlling for the effect of underlying comorbidities, lymph nodes involvement, marital status, vascular involvement and adjuvant therapy; it was found that marital status (adj HR= 3.63, 95% CI 1.17-11.24) and lymph nodes involvement (adj HR=2.36, 95% CI 1.17-4.76) were the significant prognostic factors. Conclusion: This study re-emphasizes the role of marital status and lymph nodes involvement as independent predictors of the long-term survival of breast cancer patients. Further studies are needed to assess the promising benefit of personalized treatment and specific supportive care given to the patients with these risk factors for better cancer experience and survival.