Marital status doesn’t affect breast cancer outcome
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A woman’s marital status does not affect the outcome after surgery and radiation for breast cancer and should not be a factor in choosing treatment, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers reported this week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology (ASTRO) in Denver, Colorado.
Dr. Shelly B. Hayes presented results of a study of 2,143 women with early-stage breast cancer treated with lumpectomy, which involves surgical removal of the tumor only, and radiation between 1984 and 2003. Women were divided into four groups, according to marital status. Overall, 65 percent were married, 10 percent were single, 10 percent were divorced and 18 percent were widowed.
Marital status had no significant effect on relapse-free survival, the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based investigator reported.
Age, however, did. Women under the age of 40 or older than 70 had worse survival than women between those ages.
“Physical and biochemical status was what was important—not social status,” Hayes told Reuters Health.
“Younger women have worse relapse-free survival, and physicians might want to choose a more aggressive treatment regimen for them,” she noted.
“For example, women with HER2-positive sensitivity have a worse prognosis and may benefit from additional treatment strategies, such as tamoxifen…Treatment options and follow-up should not be made according to marital status.”
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