Is Height of Prognostic Significance in Breast Cancer Cases?

Abstract

<br /> <strong><span style="font-size: small;">Objective: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">The objective of this study was to investigate the correlation of height with prognosis and other prognostic factors in Turkish breast cancer cases. </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Materials and Methods: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">We retrospectively reviewed a total of 393 women aged between 26 and 88 years, diagnosed with stage 1-3 invasive ductal breast cancer, treated and followed-up in Kayseri Education and Research Hospital. </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Findings: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">The mean age at admission was 55.7 years; 77.6% were aged under 65, </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">56.7% were postmenopausal, 97.4% had undergone modified radical mastectomy, 47.3% were AJCC stage II, 36.8% </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">N0, 46.0% grade II, 95.4% had received chemotherapy, 81.1% radiotherapy and 71.5% hormonotherapy. Height was under 151 cm in 20.8 %, 151-160 cm in 57.3 % and over 161 in 21.9 %. Follow-up duration differed between 0.3 and 195.3 months. Mean overal survival (OS) was 125.0 (65.6-184.3) months and progression free survival was 91.5 </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">(37.7-145.2) months, with a tendency for better survival in taller individuals but no signficant variation between </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">height groups. The 5 and 10-year OS rates were 74.5% and 56.4%, and PFS rates were 64.5% and 49.2%. Regarding </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">association of height with other prognostic factors, a significant correlation was found between height and AJCC stage </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">(p= 0.011) and estrogen status (ER) (p= 0.043). </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Conclusion: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">In conclusion, overal survival was found to be longer in patients with a height between 151 and 160 cm than those under 151 cm and over 161 cm. The reason for not obtaining </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">significant results might be a relatively small number of patients and lack of the evaluation of clinical and pathologic </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">characteristics together with anthropometric measurements in the patient population. Further studies are warranted to clarify any association. </span></span>