Demographic and clinical profile of patients diagnosed with breast cancer in Port Harcourt: Implications for targeted screening

Abstract

Background: The role of risk factors in breast cancer mortality has been reported. Statistics on breast cancer differ from region to region. Our unique  regional characteristics,therefore, could be harnessed for future care. This study aims at determining the demographic and clinical profile of patients  diagnosed with breast cancer from July 2016 to June 2019 in Port Harcourt and their implications for targeted screening.

Method: This descriptive retrospective study was carried out at the breast clinic and general surgery wards of a tertiary healthcare facility using the  medical records of all patients with histologically confirmed breast cancer seen between July 2016 and June 2019. Data was analyzed using the Statistical  Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0.

Results: The median age at diagnosis of breast cancer was 41.0 years with a range of 20 – 75 years.  The median age at menarche was 14.0 years. Most of the patients, 47 (77.1%) presented with duration of symptoms of ≤12months. The most common  stage at presentation was stage III cancer.

Conclusion: The relatively younger age at presentation/diagnosis of breast cancer in our subregion could be a  strong and viable reason for advocacy for early commencement of age-targeted breast cancer screening from 25 years.