Late-stage breast cancer diagnoses have risen significantly over last decade
A new study is shining a light on the concerning trend of rising rates of late stage breast cancer diagnoses over the last decade.
The findings, which were derived from an analysis of nearly 800,000 individuals, reveal that de novo stage 4 diagnoses increased by approximately 1.2% every year from 2010 to 2021. What’s more, the uptick in incidence rates is not exclusive to any one demographic, experts involved in the analysis explained in JAMA.
“Our study showed that the incidence of de novo stage [4] breast cancer increased numerically year-over-year across all tumor subtypes, all age groups, both sexes, and most races and ethnicities,” José P. Leone, MD, from the department of medical oncology at the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues noted. “The parallel increase in stage [4] incidence in both sexes suggests that the observed trend may reflect broader environmental or population-level factors influencing breast cancer risk and stage at presentation, rather than mechanisms unique to female-specific exposures.”
Researchers gathered data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program to analyze trends in diagnoses over time. This included the cases of 761,471 individuals, both men and women. The team compared a number of factors, including age, sex, race and tumor type, to identify potential associations between stage 4 diagnoses.
Of all the cases analyzed, 5.8% were stage 4. The average age at diagnosis was 60 and 99.2% of the cases were in women. In 2010, the average incidence rate of stage 4 cancer was recorded at 9.5 cases per 100,000 patients. By 2021, this increased to 11.2 per 100,000. Incidence rates for stages 1–3 also increased, rising from 163 cases per 100,000 females in 2010 to 177.4 by 2021.
Stage 4 diagnosis increases were statistically significant across all age and racial groups, tumor subtypes and sexes, notably so among men; the annual percentage change among men was calculated at 3.7%.
In contrast to the findings of more instances of late-stage diagnoses, overall survival improved during the timeframe studied, likely reflecting advances in treatment options. Still, these treatments are costly and represent a significant burden for both patients and providers, emphasizing the need to gain a better understanding of why patients are diagnosed with cancer at more advanced stages, the team contends.
“These findings underscore the need to better understand drivers of advanced-stage cancer presentation and to develop strategies to reduce the burden of metastatic disease at diagnosis,” the authors wrote.
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In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.