Prognostic Factors for Survival in Patients with Breast Cancer Referred to Cancer Research Center in Iran

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that starts from cells of the breast and is seen mainly inwomen. It’s the most common cancer in women worldwide and is a major threat to health. The purpose of thisstudy was to fit a Cox proportional hazards model for prediction and determination of years of survival in Iranianpatients. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: A total of 366 patients with breast cancer in the Cancer Research Center wereincluded in the study. A Cox proportional hazard model was used with variables such as tumor grade, number ofremoved positive lymph nodes, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression and several othervariables. Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted and multi-years of survival were evaluated. <br/><b>Results</b>: The mean ageof patients was 48.1 years. Consumption of fatty foods (p=0.033), recurrence (p<0.001), tumor grade (p=0.046)and age (p=0.017) were significant variables. The overall 1- year, 3-year and 5-year survival rates were found tobe 93%, 75% and 52%. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Use of covariates and the Cox proportional hazard model are effective inpredicting the survival of individuals and this model distinguished 4 effective factors in the survival of patients.