Incidence and laterality of breast carcinoma among patients who attended Aminu Kano Specialist Hospital, Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

Breast cancer is the commonest malignancy in females and a major cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Previously, histological subtypes of breast carcinoma were determined in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, however, the commonest sides of breast carcinoma infection among the patients attending the facility received less attention. The study was retrospective and aimed to evaluate the mean age, incidence and laterality of breast carcinoma cases among patients who attended Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) from 2016 to 2020. A total of five-hundred and seventy-seven (577) data records on breast carcinoma of the patients comprised of histology reports, age, sex, and side of carcinoma were all extracted. The Patients' ages were categorized and mean age was determined. Data were analyzed using Minitab (17) presented in tables, charts and figures using Microsoft word excel, 2019. The results showed the mean age of breast carcinoma as 45.02±12.26, 48.28±13.06, 45.80±13.70, 48.59±13.64 and 46.66±13.35 in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively. The incidence of breast carcinoma was also dominant in the age group 40-59 and least in the age group 0-19 years. The laterality in breast carcinoma was 54% (226) on the left, 45% (189) affected on the right, and 1.0% (6) on both sides of the breast respectively. In conclusion, although breast carcinoma incidence showed a similar pattern in the five years studied, menopause was the commonest age of risk of breast carcinoma infections and the infections were more on the left breasts than the right among the patients who attended the facility.