Breast cancer risk assessment by Gail Model in women of Baghdad

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the high incidence of breast cancer (BC) and the effect of its early diagnosis on decreasing morbidity and mortality among Iraqi women.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted and data were collected from 250 women in Baghdad by a questionnaire consisted of demographic and breast cancer risk (BCR) factors questions. Brest cancer risk was calculated using the BCR Assessment Tool (BCRAT) of the National Cancer Institute’s online version (Gail Model).

Results: The average age of women was 45.46± 9.2 years. Twenty-six (10.4%) women have first degree relatives who had BC and three of them have more than one. More than half of the women 136 (54.4%) had their menarche at 12–13 years of age. Half of them 126 (50.4%) had their first birth at <30 year of age.

The mean five year BCR for all women was 0.95 ± 1.4%, and 19 (7.6%) of them had a five year BCR ≥ 1.7%. Mean lifetime BCR up to age 90 years was 11.13 ± 4.7% and 6 (2.4%) women had high risk. Based on these findings, it can be suggested that employing Gail Model for BCR assessment can help healthcare providers in Iraq to estimate an individual’s probability of developing BC for screening and prevention.

Keywords: Breast cancer risk; Gail Model; Iraq