Impact of Screening Programs on Stage Migration in Breast Cancer

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Public Health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Breast cancer (BC) is a leading global malignancy, with advanced-stage diagnosis leading to increased morbidity and mortality.
• Early diagnosis is critical for improved patient outcomes and effective healthcare resource allocation.
• Screening programs are essential for the early detection of breast cancer, reducing mortality and improving prognosis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of Oman's national breast cancer screening program on the stage at diagnosis.
• To analyze trends in stage-specific breast cancer incidence before and after the program's introduction.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of breast cancer patient data from the Oman National Cancer Registry (2006-2010 and 2015-2017).
• Inclusion of cases with confirmed histopathology and available composite TNM staging.
• Statistical analysis to compare stage distribution between the two time periods.

Main Results:

• Significant reduction in Stage IV breast cancer (41% decrease) and increase in Stage 0-1 (86.15% increase).
• Increase in Stage 0 diagnoses from 0% to 4.26%.
• Shift towards smaller tumor sizes (T0-1 increase) and node-negative (N0 increase) cases, with a decrease in metastatic disease (M1 decrease).

Conclusions:

• The national screening program in Oman has successfully increased localized breast cancer diagnoses and decreased advanced-stage disease.
• Continuous evaluation of screening programs is vital to ensure they meet their objectives.
• Further research is needed to establish the causal link between stage distribution changes and mortality reduction.