Estimation of Survival Rates of Breast Cancer Patients - a Hospital-based Study from Mumbai

Purpose: To estimate the survival rates of breast cancer patients with reference to various factors like age,literacy status, residential status, T-stage and treatment. This is because there are very few studies reportedfrom Indian subcontinent.
Methods: Survival rates were obtained by using the actuarial method and lossadjustedsurvival rate method (LAR) for the above factors and the rates were compared. The present studycarried out at the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), includes newly diagnosed (who were not treated elsewherebefore attending TMH) primary breast cancer patients and having completed the initial treatment.
Results:The survival rates, actuarial survival and rates corrected for losses to follow-up (LAR) are presented. It showedthat younger patients (≤50 yrs) had a better 5-year survival ( 81%) than the older patients ( > 50 years), withstatistical significance ( p=0.024). There was no variation in survival with regard to the residential status butliterate patients had a better ( non-significant) survival (77%) than their illiterate counterparts. T3-stage patientshad the worst prognosis showing a 5-year survival of 60% ( p=0.0002). Survival for those treated with surgeryas the only modality and also in combination with other modalities did not show any remarkable differencesexcept for the group that were treated with ‘surgery in combination with chemotherapy’. The 5-year survivalfor those treated with surgery as the only modality was 83%. This study yielded useful information on breastcancer survival, especially in a situation with incomplete follow-up. The method applied (LAR) also clearlydemonstrates the bias in estimates obtained by direct application of the standard actuarial method.