Effect of reproductive factors on stage, grade and hormone receptor status in early-onset breast cancer

Women younger than 35 years who are diagnosed with breast cancer tend to have more advanced stage tumors and poorer prognoses than do older women. Pregnancy is associated with elevated exposure to estrogen, which may influence the progression of breast cancer in young women. The objective of the present study was to examine the relationship between reproductive events and tumor stage, grade, estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor status, and survival in women diagnosed with early-onset breast cancer.

In a population-based, case–case study of 254 women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at age under 35 years, odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using unconditional logistic regression with tumor characteristics as dependent variables and adjusting for age and education. Survival analyses also examined the relationship between reproductive events and overall survival.

Compared with nulliparous women, women with three or more childbirths were more likely to be diagnosed with nonlocalized tumors (OR = 3.1, 95% CI = 1.3–7.7), and early age (<20 years) at first full-term pregnancy was also associated with a diagnosis of breast cancer that was nonlocalized (OR = 3.0, 95% CI = 1.2–7.4) and of higher grade (OR = 3.2, 95% CI 1.0–9.9). The hazard ratio for death among women with two or more full-term pregnancies, as compared with those with one full-term pregnancy or none, was 2.1 (95% CI = 1.0–4.5), adjusting for stage. Among parous women, those who lactated were at decreased risk for both estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor negative tumors (OR = 0.2, 95% CI = 0.1–0.5, and OR = 0.4, 95% CI = 0.2–0.8, respectively).

The results of the present study suggest that pregnancy and lactation may influence tumor presentation and survival in women with early-onset breast cancer.