Triple-negative breast cancer and obesity in a rural Appalachian population

Our objective was to determine the clinicopathologic features of triple-negative (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor-2 receptor negative) breast cancer and their relationship to obesity in women drawn from a population with one of the highest obesity rates in the United States.

This retrospective study involved 620 White patients with invasive breast cancer in West Virginia. Hospital tumor registry, charts, and pathology records provided age at diagnosis, tumor histologic type, size, nodal status, and receptor status. Body mass index was calculated and a value of > or = 30 was considered indicative of obesity.

Triple-negative tumors occurred in 117 (18.9%) of the 620 patients, most often in association with invasive ductal carcinomas. Patients with triple-negative tumors were younger than those with other receptor types, 44.5% and 26.7%, respectively, being diagnosed at age <50 years (P = 0.0004). The triple-negative tumors were larger (P = 0.0003), most notably in the younger women, but small tumors (<2.0 cm) were more often accompanied by lymph node metastases. Obesity was present in 49.6% of those with triple-negative tumors but in only 35.8% of those with non-triple-negative tumors (P = 0.0098). Lymph node metastases were more frequently associated with T(2) tumors in obese patients (P = 0.032) regardless of their receptor status.

Triple-negative breast cancers within a White, socioeconomically deprived, population occurred in younger women, with later stage at diagnosis, and in association with obesity, which itself has been associated with a poor prognosis in breast cancer.