Breast cancer in elderly Korean women: clinicopathological and biological features

With an aging society, Korean women ≥70 years of age are increasingly being diagnosed with breast cancer.

To investigate the clinicopathological and biological characteristics of breast cancer in elderly Korean women and compare them with breast cancer in elderly (≥70 years) women globally and in Korean women of all ages.

We retrospectively reviewed the clinicopathological and biological features of breast cancer in elderly Korean women (≥70 years; n = 87) who sought treatment during 2004-2014 from a single institution. These data were indirectly compared with data of Korean women of all ages (nationwide Korean Breast Cancer Registry) or elderly women globally (meta-analysis).

Compared to elderly women with breast cancer globally, Korean elderly women had a more symptomatic presentation, lower ER expression, and overexpression or amplification of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Compared to Korean women of all ages with breast cancer, elderly Korean women presented with advanced tumor stages, larger tumor size, more lymph node involvement, and more luminal B and basal-like subtypes.

Breast cancer had a more aggressive clinicopathological and biological characteristics in elderly Korean women than in Korean women of all ages or elderly women globally.