Breast Carcinoma Receptor Expression in a Caribbean Population

Trinidad and Tobago are islands in the Southern Caribbean with a unique mix of races within the population consisting of East Indian (EI) (37.6%), Afro-Caribbean (AC) (36.3%), mixed (24.2%), and Caucasian, Chinese, Lebanese, Syrian, Amerindian, and Spanish groups accounting for 1.9%. It makes it suitable for a comparison of breast carcinoma receptor expression within a fixed environment. This study included 257 women with an age range of 28 to 93 years (mean = 57.2, standard deviation = 15.0), peak age group of 51 to 60 consisting of 105 EI, 119 AC, and 33 mixed descent. Invasive ductal carcinoma accounted for 88%, invasive lobular 9.7%, and ductal carcinoma in situ 2.3%. The triple-negative rates were 24.8, 33.6, and 30.3% for EI, AC, and mixed races, respectively, with the Pearson's chi-square test revealing statistical significance for the AC versus EI ( p  < 0.001); AC versus mixed ( p  < 0.001); and EI versus mixed ( p  = 0.014) groups. The overall estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and human epidermal growth receptor (HER) expression negative rates were 52, 64, and 79%, respectively. Chi-square test of the following combinations: ER +/PR +/HER + ; ER +/PR +/HER - ; ER -/PR -/HER + ; ER +/PR -/HER + ; ER +/PR -/HER - ; ER -/PR +/HER + ; ER -/PR +/HER- revealed no statistical differences ( p  = 0.689).