Patient and tumor characteristics associated with increased mortality in young women (≤40 years) with breast cancer

Background The goal of the current study is to identify predictors responsible for mortality disparities between young (≤40 years) and older (>40 years) women with breast cancer. Methods From 1998 to 2006, 344 patients ≤40 years were treated for breast cancer. Cox regression models calculated adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to determine differences in breast cancer mortality in women ≤40 years versus >40 years (n = 3,252), controlling for potential confounders in univariate tests. Results From 1998 to 2006, 3,596 patients were treated for breast cancer; 9.6% were ≤40 years and 90.4% were >40 years. Young women were more likely to be African‐American, with a family history of breast cancer, diagnosed at advanced stage, and treated by mastectomy ( P  < 0.05). Tumors in young women were more likely to be bilateral, T2/T3, grade III, ER/PR negative, and lymph‐node positive ( P  < 0.01). Overall, young women (≤40 years) with breast cancer were more likely to die compared with older women (>40 years) (aHR 1.52, CI 1.37–1.74). Conclusions Young women (≤40 years) with breast cancer are diagnosed at a more advanced stage and have tumors with poor prognostic features. Young women (≤40 years) are 52% more likely to die from breast cancer compared to older women (>40 years). J. Surg. Oncol. 2009;100:248–251. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.