Risk factors, early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in women worldwide. The burden of breast cancer is great, global breast cancer incidence increasing from 641,000 in 1980 to 1,643,000 in 2010, an annual rate of increase of 3.1%. Recently there has been a tendency to estimate a prognostic index, namely the risk of certain persons to develop breast cancer in their lifetime. In Italy the risk of breast cancer for the general female population is 6.3%, in U.S.A.- 10%, and in the Republic of Moldova - 6.6%. Purpose and objectives: Was to assess the risk factors most commonly met in women with breast cancer and their distribution based on married/single and urban/rural area criteria. Materials and methods: The trial was completed on 120 patients: all of them women of ages between 26 and 71 years, diagnosed with breast cancer in different stages. We evaluated the patients with a self-made questionnaire based on the topical risk factors; also we studied their patient data sheet and obtained data analysis. Results: Evaluating risk factors based on married/single criteria we have revealed: a higher incidence of nulliparous women in the single group (50% vs. 1.04%), also, one or more abortions in single women (66,66% vs. 62,5 %), a higher number of smokers in the single group (12,5% vs. 8,33%). Considering the duration of breast feeding, the number of single women who breastfeed for more than 9 months was smaller in comparison to those married (20,83% vs. 63,54%). Besides that, a higher number of married women gave birth to their first child after the age of 25. Analyzing the data obtained in the rural area/urban area groups, we found that there were more nulliparous women in the urban than in the rural area (15,38% vs. 8,64%). The number of women who had one or more abortions was slightly higher in the urban area (64,1% vs. 62,96%). Women from the city tend to smoke more (12,82% vs. 6,74%). A lower number of city residents give birth to their first child before the age of 25. Also, a lower number of women from the rural area breast feed their children more than 9 months, compared with the women from the urban area (53,08% vs. 58,97%). Conclusion: Women with breast cancer are under the influence of numerous risk factors, both modifiable and non-modifiable. It is important to assess the influence of these factors and to determine the women exposed to them, in order to begin early screening. Early detection and also diagnosis at early stages is the key to a cost efficient, less traumatizing and sparing treatment, as well as to a higher 5 year survival rate.