Increasing Amount of Breast Cancer-Specific Death Due to Stage 1, 2 Disease
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Oct. 10, 2024 -- Patients with stage I/II breast cancers have excellent prognosis, but account for more than 60 percent of breast cancer-specific death (BCSD) because of their large absolute volumes, according to a study published online Sept. 30 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Michal Marczyk, Ph.D., from Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Poland, and colleagues used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (1975 to 2017) to identify 972,763 patients who were female sex at birth and had one primary tumor type, surgery, American Joint Committee on Cancer (6th edition) stage >0, no bilateral cancer, and available survival data. Trends in the fractions of annual BCSD due to stage I, II, III, and IV disease were examined.
The researchers found that the contribution of stage I and II cancers to BCSD increased significantly from 16.2 to 23.1 percent and from 30.7 to 39.5 percent, respectively, between 2000 and 2017. During the same period, the contribution of stages III and IV cancers decreased from 36.4 to 30.3 percent and from 16.7 to 7.1 percent, respectively. BCSD due to T1a, T1b, and T1c node-negative cancers in 2000 were 0.92, 4.0, and 10.7 percent, respectively, which increased significantly to 1.9, 5.8, and 14.7 percent, respectively, by 2017. Similar temporal trends were seen for hormone receptor-positive and negative cancers. For all-cause mortality, the contribution of BCSD declined from 23.9 to 16.6 percent for stage I cancers and from 47.7 to 36.9 percent for stage II cancers by 2017.
"To further reduce breast cancer death, strategies are needed to identify and treat patients with stage I/II disease who remain at risk for recurrence," the authors write.
Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted October 2024
Read this next
Random Forest AI Model Superior for Inpatient Mortality Prognostication in Cirrhosis
THURSDAY, July 24, 2025 -- For inpatients with cirrhosis, a machine learning (ML) model using random forest (RF) analysis is superior for prediction of inpatient mortality...
Inflammation and Nutrition-Based Scores Tied to Prognosis of Low-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome
THURSDAY, July 24, 2025 -- The Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) and systemic oxidative stress (SOS) score are independently associated with poorer prognosis of low-risk...
Few School Principals Report District-Mandated Mental Health Screening
THURSDAY, July 24, 2025 -- Few school principals report district-mandated mental health screening in schools, according to a study published online July 18 in JAMA Network...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.