Risk factors for interval breast cancer: insights from a decade of a mammography screening program

Purpose Breast cancer remains a major global health issue, with mammography screening programs (MSPs) being critical for early detection to improve survival. Interval breast cancers (IBC) are an important quality criterion and have been linked with increased mortality. We aimed to identify risk fact...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Breast cancer research and treatment Vol. 211; no. 1; pp. 23 - 33
Main Authors: Subelack, Jonas, Morant, Rudolf, Blum, Marcel, Eichenberger, Alena, Geissler, Alexander, Ehlig, David
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York Springer US 01.05.2025
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Breast cancer
Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis
Breast Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging
Breast Neoplasms - epidemiology
Breast Neoplasms - mortality
Breast Neoplasms - pathology
Early Detection of Cancer - methods
Early Detection of Cancer - statistics & numerical data
Female
Humans
Incidence
Mammography
Mammography - methods
Mass Screening
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Oncology
Public health
Registries
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Survival
Switzerland - epidemiology
Tumors
Switzerland
Interval cancer
Interval carcinoma
Mammography screening program
Breast cancer
Interval breast cancer
Risk factors
ISSN:0167-6806, 1573-7217, 1573-7217
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose Breast cancer remains a major global health issue, with mammography screening programs (MSPs) being critical for early detection to improve survival. Interval breast cancers (IBC) are an important quality criterion and have been linked with increased mortality. We aimed to identify risk factors for IBC diagnoses, based on MSP data. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, we merged data from the Swiss MSP “donna” with data from cancer registries from 2010 to 2019 to categorize cases as IBC or screen-detected breast cancer (SBC). We compared the incidence, tumor characteristics, and survival proportions of women with IBC versus SBC. We used a multivariable Poisson regression with robust errors to identify risk factors for IBC diagnoses. Results We identified 1134 breast cancer cases, specifically 251 IBC and 883 SBC. The 7-year survival proportions significantly deviated with 92.9% for women with IBC and 96.4% for women with SBC ( p  < 0.05). Women with IBC are diagnosed with significantly higher tumor stages ( p  < 0.05) and have a worse tumor biology in multiple dimensions e.g. larger tumor size or more often triple negative ( p  < 0.05). Higher breast density (BI-RADS d risk ratio (RR): 3.293), certain age groups (55–59 years RR: 1.345), and a family breast cancer history (RR: 1.299) were identified as significant ( p  < 0.05) risk factors for IBC diagnoses. Conclusions Women with IBC had lower overall survival proportions than women with SBC, possibly due to higher stages at diagnosis. Increased breast density and a positive family history of breast cancer could encourage MSPs to personalize their screening process (e.g. additional diagnostics).
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:0167-6806
1573-7217
1573-7217
DOI:10.1007/s10549-025-07619-4