Ctm. Brekelmans et al., THE EPIDEMIOLOGIC PROFILE OF WOMEN WITH AN INTERVAL CANCER IN THE DOMSCREENING-PROGRAM, Breast cancer research and treatment, 30(3), 1994, pp. 223-232
Risk factors for breast cancer were compared in 107 women with interva
l breast cancer (cancers occurring within 2 years after a negative scr
een) and 258 women with breast cancer detected at Ist screening. All w
omen (aged 40-67) were screened in the DOM project (the Utrecht progra
mme for the early detection of breast cancer). Women with an interval
cancer reported more often a history of benign breast disease (OR 4.66
, 95% C.I. 2.08-10.41) and an artificial menopause (OR 4.07; 95% C.I.
1.74-9.55) than women with a screen detected cancer. Women with an int
erval cancer were taller than women with a screen detected cancer; thi
s was seen most clearly in women with an artificial menopause (chi(2)
for trend = 5.88; p = 0.02) and to a lesser extent in premenopausal wo
men (chi(2) for trend = 1.70; p = 0.19). Premenopausal women with an i
nterval cancer were heavier than women with a screen detected cancer (
chi(2) for trend = 4.66; p = 0.03); whereas natural postmenopausal wom
en with an interval cancer were leaner than women with a screen detect
ed cancer (chi(2) for trend = 1.57; p = 0.21). All analyses were done
while correcting for age and selected other risk factors for breast ca
ncer. These results suggest that the epidemiological profile of pre- a
nd post-menopausal women with an interval cancer differs from that of
women with a screen detected cancer, which might imply a different nat
ural history of these two types of breast tumours.