Worse outcome for breast cancer patients with other health problems

01. 07. 2011 | ecancer.org


Older breast cancer patients with certain other health problems have higher mortality rates than patients without these problems according to a study published online June 30 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute [1].

Worse outcome for breast cancer patients with other health problems

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The other health problems, or 'comorbidities', include heart attack and other heart-related problems, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and others.

Previous studies have shown that comorbidities as a group are associated with poorer overall survival and higher overall death rates among breast cancer patients. In this study, Jennifer L. Patnaik, Ph.D., of the University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, and colleagues looked at the association between each of 13 individual conditions and survival.

Read the whole article at ecancer.org

Reference

  1. Patnaik, J. L., Byers, T., et al. (2011). The influence of comorbidities on overall survival among older women diagnosed with breast cancer Journal of the National Cancer Institute DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djr188

Keywords: breast cancer, comorbidities, mortality rates, survival rates

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