Breast cancer risk in symptomatic women spontaneously undergoing clinical breast examination

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women. However, few studies consider the possible relationship between the main breast complaints referred to by non-screened patients and cancer onset. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the principal breast complaints (breast pain, breast lump and nipple discharge) and the risk of BC. A group of 347 symptomatic women (median age 59 years, range 35-83) with confirmed BC (cases) was age-matched with a population-based group of 351 symptomatic women (controls) who were followed-up for at least three years (median 78 months, range 36-146) to exclude the presence of a missed BC. Breast pain was the most common (p < 0.05) complaint in younger patients (50 years or less = 39.0%, 51-60 years = 51.2%), while breast lump was most common in patients aged > 60 years (65.4%). Since the odds ratio (OR) ranged from 0.80 to 1.20 at a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.54-1.80, there was no overall significant association between breast complaints and risk of BC. There was some evidence of increased risk among patients with breast lump (OR = 1.20, 95% CI 0.80-1.80), and no risk in those with breast pain (OR = 0.86, 95% CI 0.54-1.36) and nipple discharge (OR = 0.8, 95% CI 0.37-1.74). In conclusion, a relationship between breast complaints and the onset of BC does not seem to exist.