Young Women with Breast Cancer: New Data Reveals Important Trends

At two cancer hospitals in Mexico, Dr. Cynthia Villarreal and her team have been hard at work collecting data from the many young women with breast cancer they see every week. Women with breast cancer in Mexico are diagnosed, on average, one decade younger than North American and European women, and Mexico has a large proportion of breast cancer patients who are under the age of 40. This trend exists in many other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), as well.

Despite this high burden of breast cancer among younger women in LMICs, their specific needs — clinically, psychologically, emotionally, and logistically — are not studied or addressed in a systematic way. That’s why Dr. Villarreal and her team have been working with GCI to collect data from their patients: We want to understand the unique characteristics of young women with breast cancer and design tailored interventions to address the obstacles they face.

The Young Women’s Breast Cancer Database was rolled out as part of Dr. Villarreal’s program in Mexico for young women with breast cancer called “Joven y Fuerte”, or “Young and Strong”. The initial results of the database were presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December 2016. Here are some of the most interesting pieces of data from this initial analysis, and why they’re important:

• 25% of the women are childless: This statistic is important for two reasons. First, it shows that 25% of these young women may still want to start a family, a goal that can be jeopardized by the physical effects of harsh cancer treatments. Second, it tells us that 75% of these women already have young families who will be greatly affected by this life-threatening disease. This highlights the need for conversations and resources regarding fertility preservation, as well as the importance of tailored psychosocial support for these women and their families.
• 52% did not have higher education: Breast cancer is a complex disease that is difficult to understand, even for the most well-educated people. Patients lacking any sort of higher education may have additional obstacles in understanding their disease and have fewer resources for overcoming those obstacles. It highlights the potential need for tailored health education interventions and additional resources, such as support groups.
• 90% came to the doctor with a self-detected mass: Many women in the U.S. find out about their breast cancer through a mammogram, before they or their doctor can even feel it. Typically, by the time a woman can feel a lump herself, her cancer has grown into a much more serious disease. The fact that nearly all of these women could feel a mass themselves is a startling statistic, and it calls for efforts to increase awareness about breast cancer in the general public and among primary care providers, as well as efforts to improve times to diagnosis for these patients, so they can be treated as soon as possible.
• 53% were diagnosed with Stage III or IV disease: In the U.S., 60% of women are diagnosed at an early stage of disease, when breast cancer is much easier to treat and patients have the highest likelihood of long-term survival. However, we see here that more than half of these young women in Mexico are diagnosed at later stages of disease, which again calls for efforts to improve awareness and reduce health system delays, so these women are able to recognize and get help for their disease as quickly as possible.

In addition to clinical data, we are also collecting information about quality of life, family history of breast cancer, sexual function, and psychosocial characteristics of these women to get a full picture of their disease and its context. We plan to expand the database to Brazil, Panama, and Peru in 2017, and the findings will inform culturally tailored interventions to address the unique needs of these women and help improve breast cancer care in Latin America and beyond.