Comparative analysis of breast cancer characteristics in young premenopausal and postmenopausal women inGhana
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Date
2024
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Nature
Abstract
Breast cancer is increasingly common among young women in Ghana. BCa is heterogeneous with
unique traits that impact causes, prognostic, and predictive outcomes of patients before and after
menopause. However, limited evidence exists on diferences between young premenopausal (YPM)
and postmenopausal cases in Ghana. This study compared breast tumour characteristics between YPM
women (under 35 years) and postmenopausal women. We conducted a prospective cross-sectional
study involving 140 BCa-diagnosed women at the Breast Care Clinic of Komfo Anokye Teaching
Hospital (KATH), Kumasi from November 2019 to June 2021. Thirty-one (22.1%) of participants were
YPM and 109 (77.9%) were postmenopausal. The median ages for YPM and postmenopausal were
32.0 (range: 25.0–35.0) and 57.0 (48.0–86.0) respectively. Invasive carcinoma was the most common
histological type (97.1%). Left tumour location was the most frequent in both groups (51.6% for
YPM and 51.8% for postmenopausal). Lumps detected were frequently in the outer upper quadrant
in both groups (61.3% and 56.0%). The majority of the YPM women (80.7%) and postmenopausal
women (87.0%) had stage III and IV diseases. Most YPM (64.5%) and postmenopausal women
(64.4%) exhibited triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Both YPM 13 (56.6%) and postmenopausal
participants 40 (56.3%) exhibited a predominantly partial response to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy but
YPM women (21.7%) experienced disease progression than the postmenopausal women (12.7%). The
study highlights consistent tumour characteristics and advanced clinical stages at diagnosis in both
groups with a higher prevalence of TNBC. TNBC and HER2+subtypes respond better to Anthracycline based neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Establishing Breast Care Clinics in district and regional hospitals
for early detection is crucial and further studies are warranted to understand the higher TNBC
prevalence in black Africans and re-evaluate breast education programs to address the persistently
late presentations.
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This article is Published by Nature and is also available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52129-w
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Citation
Scientifc Reports | (2024) 14:2704