Correlation Between Age and Hormone Receptor Status in Women With Breast Cancer

Introduction Breast cancer is a leading cause of death among women. This study aimed to evaluate the association between age and hormonal receptor status (HRS) in women with breast cancer presented at a public hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Medical Oncology, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), Karachi, Pakistan, from January 2021 to August 2021. All women of age more than 18 years with a confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer were included in the study using non-random consecutive sampling techniques. Women who underwent artificial menopause or hysterectomy, women who had chemotherapy-induced menopause, and pregnant women were excluded from the study. Data were collected from all patients regarding socio-demographics and tumor characteristics. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed to evaluate the status of hormonal receptors. Results The mean age at the time of presentation of females with breast cancer was 46.57±11.45 years. Among 317 females, 180 females had positive estrogen receptor (ER) expression (56.8%), 173 had positive progesterone receptor (PR) expression (54.6%), and 121 had positive human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu) expression (38.2%). The highest proportions of positive ER (36.7%), PR (38.2%), and HER/2 neu (37.2%) expression were observed in the age group 41-50 years, respectively. There was a statistically significant association between age and ER expression (p=0.017) and age and PR expression (p=0.003) while no association was found between age and HER/2 neu expression (p=0.335).  Conclusion The present study indicated that the majority of the patients were diagnosed with breast cancer in their 40s. Most of the women in the younger age groups were estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and HER2/neu negative while the older aged women were more frequently ER, PR, and HER2/neu positive albeit, the association between age or HER2/neu was not significant.  In short, we can expect that the older aged patients may have better survival rates and patient prognosis. However, this is just a conjecture and further large-scale, multicenter, and long-term studies are required to understand the true relationship between age and patient survival rates. We hope that the current study will serve as a catalyst for future breast-cancer related studies.