KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to compare populations with differing childbirth ages to assess breast cancer and childbearing age overlap.
- The study emphasized increased awareness for women to make informed choices about delayed childbearing and cancer prevention.
In the context of modern trends favoring delayed childbearing, pregnancy-related cancers, primarily breast cancers, are anticipated to rise. Advanced maternal age heightens breast cancer risk, with younger patients facing increased mortality and metastasis likelihood.
Ambrogio P. Londero and the team aimed to compare populations differing in childbirth ages to assess potential overlaps between breast cancer diagnosis and childbearing age.
The study conducted a retrospective analysis using various data sources, including the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, the United States National Center for Health Statistics within the National Vital Statistics System, the United Nations Population Division, the GLOBOCAN Cancer Observatory, the CLIO-INFRA project database, the Human Fertility Database, and anonymized local data.
The results revealed that as women’s age at delivery rose, there was a corresponding increase in the convergence between their age distribution at breast cancer diagnosis and childbearing. Furthermore, the overlap between the two age distributions surged by over 200% as the average age at delivery escalated from 27 to 35 years.
The study concluded that with the progressive increase in women’s average childbearing age, there has been a significant overlap between pregnancy and breast cancer age distributions. This underscores the imperative for heightened awareness and educational endeavors aimed at informing women about the potential repercussions of delayed childbearing. By offering comprehensive information and support, individuals can make more informed decisions regarding their reproductive health and strategies for cancer prevention.
No funding was provided.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38745181/
Londero AP, Bertozzi S, Xholli A, et al. (2024). “Breast cancer and the steadily increasing maternal age: are they colliding?” BMC Womens Health. 2024 May 14;24(1):286. doi: 10.1186/s12905-024-03138-4. PMID: 38745181.
