Background
Breast cancer remains the leading cancer diagnosed among women in Ireland. Growing international evidences suggests that breast cancer incidence is increasing among certain age groups including younger women. Current hypotheses suggest that changing risk factor patterns over time may be influencing these trends. However it is unclear if patterns of breast cancers among women in Ireland have changed over time. Further, it is unclear whether any patterns observed are also mapped by temporal changes in clinical characteristics of the diagnosed breast cancers.
Aims
Therefore, this proposal aims to examine temporal patterns of breast cancer among women outside of the target screening age range including women aged 40-50 years and >70 years, diagnosed with breast cancer in a symptomatic breast cancer setting in Ireland. Further, this study aims to examine patterns stratified by invasive breast cancer clinical characteristics.
Methods
This study will use data from a symptomatic breast setting in Ireland. A cross-sectional study using data from breast cancer cases diagnosed between 2014 and 2024 will be undertaken. Descriptive statistics will be used to describe incidence of breast cancers and clinical characteristics over time. Clinical characteristics that will be examined include hormone receptor status, tumour size and stage.
Discussion and Conclusion
Collectively this study will provide an insight into breast cancer diagnosed within the symptomatic setting among younger and older women in Ireland. It will provide an overview of longitudinal patterns over time and of clinical characteristics diagnosed among younger women.