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Clinical characteristics and prognosis of postpartum breast cancer

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A Correction to this article was published on 14 December 2023

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Abstract

Purpose

Postpartum breast cancer (PPBC) is a not well-established subset of breast cancer, and only few studies address its poorer prognosis. However, previous studies show that PPBC is associated with worse outcome with higher rates of metastasis than in young women’s breast cancer (YWBC). We aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics and prognosis of PPBC based on the diagnosis period of PPBC.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed 208,780 patients with breast cancer from the Korean Breast Cancer Society registry (KBCSR) database between January 2000 and December 2014. We included premenopausal women aged 20–50 years who underwent breast cancer surgery. The patients were classified by 5-year intervals according to the diagnosis period of breast cancer, from the first birth to the breast cancer diagnosis.

Results

Compared with patients in the other groups, patients diagnosed within postpartum 5 years (PPBC < 5 years) group were younger, had a more advanced stage, had lower estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression, and had a higher human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive rate. Further, PPBC < 5 years group had a worse survival rate than the nulliparous and other groups (5-year cumulative survival: PPBC < 5 years group, 89%; nulliparous group, 97.3%; 5 ≤ PPBC < 10 years group, 93%). In the multivariate analysis, the PPBC < 5 years group was associated with a worse survival rate (hazard ratio 1.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.148–2.094, p 0.004) after adjustment for age at diagnosis, breast cancer stage, ER and HER2 status, Ki-67 level, and chemotherapy.

Conclusion

Our findings indicated that patients diagnosed with breast cancer within the first 5 years after delivery had aggressive characteristics and a poor survival rate. It is important to elucidate the pathophysiology of PPBC and establish novel therapeutic strategies to improve the survival rate.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the KBCS registry, but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. However, data are available from the authors upon reasonable request and with the permission of the KBCS registry.

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Acknowledgements

This article was supported by the Korean Breast Cancer Society (KBCS). We thank all members of the KBCS who participated in the KBCS online registry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Bucheon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Pill Sun Paik

  2. Department of Surgery, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu, Republic of Korea

    Jung Eun Choi

  3. Department of Surgery, Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Pusan, Republic of Korea

    Seok Won Lee

  4. Department of Surgery, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Young Joo Lee & Soo Youn Bae

  5. Department of Surgery, Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Young-Joon Kang

  6. Breast & Thyroid Clinic, Saegyaero Hospital, Busan, Republic of Korea

    Hyouk Jin Lee

Authors
  1. Pill Sun Paik
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  2. Jung Eun Choi
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  3. Seok Won Lee
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  4. Young Joo Lee
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  5. Young-Joon Kang
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  6. Hyouk Jin Lee
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  7. Soo Youn Bae
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Consortia

Korean Breast Cancer Society

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation was performed by JEC, SWL, YJL, Y-JK, HJL. Data collection and analysis were performed by PSP and SYB. The first draft of the manuscript was written by PSP and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Soo Youn Bae.

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The original online version of this article was revised: In the original publication of the article, the affiliation of corresponding author Soo Youn Bae and coauthor Young Joo Lee were published incorrectly as “Department of Surgery, incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea”. The correct affiliation of Soo Youn Bae and Young Joo Lee is Department of Surgery, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

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Paik, P.S., Choi, J.E., Lee, S.W. et al. Clinical characteristics and prognosis of postpartum breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 202, 275–286 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-023-07069-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-023-07069-w

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