Quality of life in long-term breast cancer survivors in Sub-Saharan Africa: the African Breast Cancer-Disparities in Outcomes study.

Purpose: In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), breast cancer survivors' (BCS) quality of life (QoL) remains understudied. We compared QoL in BCS to cancer-free (CF) women across SSA settings with different levels of development, healthcare systems, ethnic compositions, and HIV prevalence.

Methods: In 2022-2023, all 5 + year BCS from the African Breast Cancer-Disparities in Outcomes study and age-matched CF women from the community setting answered the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire in Namibia, Nigeria, and Uganda.

Dissecting the Prediagnostic Journey to Identify Opportunities for Early Detection of Esophageal Cancer: Findings From a High-Risk Area in Rural China.

Purpose: Survival from esophageal cancer (EC) is poor, partly reflecting the delay in diagnosis. To inform the potential measures for downstaging the disease, we estimated diagnosis delay, that is, the length of interval from symptom-to-diagnosis (STD), and investigated its correlates among patients with EC in a high-risk resource-limited rural area in China.

Methods: Patients newly diagnosed with EC (N = 411) were recruited in a secondary hospital in Henan province in China between August 1, 2018, and October 21, 2020.

Breast cancer in women by HIV status: A report from the South African National Cancer Registry.

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in women living in South Africa, a country with a high HIV burden. However, characteristics of the double burden of HIV and BC in South Africa have not been properly investigated. We described characteristics of BC cases by HIV status in South Africa.

Do social protection programmes affect the burden of breast and cervical cancer? A systematic review.

Background: Socioeconomic conditions are strongly associated with breast and cervical cancer incidence and mortality patterns; therefore, social protection programmes (SPPs) might impact these cancers. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of SPPs on breast and cervical cancer outcomes and their risk/protective factors.

Methods: Five databases were searched for articles that assessed participation in PPS and the incidence, survival, mortality (primary outcomes), screening, staging at diagnosis and risk/protective factors (secondary outcomes) for these cancers.

Income Segregation, Conditional Cash Transfers, and Breast Cancer Mortality Among Women in Brazil.

Importance: Women living in income-segregated areas are less likely to receive adequate breast cancer care and access community resources, which may heighten breast cancer mortality risk.

Objective: To investigate the association between income segregation and breast cancer mortality and whether this association is attenuated by receipt of the Bolsa Família program (BFP), the world's largest conditional cash-transfer program.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study was conducted using data from the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort, which were linked with nationwide mortality registries (2004-2015).

Are mammography image acquisition factors, compression pressure and paddle tilt, associated with breast cancer detection in screening?

Objectives: To assess the associations between objectively measured mammographic compression pressure and paddle tilt and breast cancer (BC) detected at the same ("contemporaneous") screen, subsequent screens, or in-between screens (interval cancers).

Methods: Automated pressure and paddle tilt estimates were derived for 80,495 mammographic examinations in a UK population-based screening programme. Adjusted logistic regression models were fitted to estimate the associations of compression parameters with BC detected at contemporaneous screen (777 cases).

The intersection of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status: inequalities in breast and cervical cancer mortality in 20,665,005 adult women from the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort.

Objectives: There is limited evidence regarding the impact of race/racism and its intersection with socioeconomic status (SES) on breast and cervical cancer, the two most common female cancers globally. We investigated racial inequalities in breast and cervical cancer mortality and whether SES (education and household conditions) interacted with race/ethnicity.

Design: The 100 Million Brazilian Cohort data were linked to the Brazilian Mortality Database, 2004-2015 (n = 20,665,005 adult women).

XPERT breast cancer STRAT4 as an alternative method of identifying breast cancer phenotype in Cape Verde (preliminary results).

Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) is a public health problem in developing countries, including Cape Verde. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is the gold standard technique used for BC phenotypic characterisation to support efficient therapeutic decisions. However, IHC is a demanding technique that requires knowledge, trained technicians, expensive antibodies and reagents, controls, and results validation.

To what extent are objectively measured mammographic imaging techniques associated with compression outcomes.

Objective: To describe the association between objectively measurable imaging techniques and the resulting compression thickness and dose.

Methods: The study included 80,495 routine screens from the South-West London Breast Screening Service between March 2013 and July 2017. Average compression force, paddle tilt and dose were calculated.

Regional Variation in the Tumor Microenvironment, Immune Escape and Prognostic Factors in Breast Cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The low overall survival rates of patients with breast cancer in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are driven by regionally differing tumor biology, advanced tumor stages at diagnosis, and limited access to therapy. However, it is not known whether regional differences in the composition of the tumor microenvironment (TME) exist and affect patients' prognosis. In this international, multicentre cohort study, 1,237 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded breast cancer samples, including samples of the "African Breast Cancer-Disparities in Outcomes (ABC-DO) Study," were analyzed.

Incidence and prevalence of drugs used for chronic diseases in survivors of adult-onset gynaecological cancer - A nationwide cohort study.

Objectives: To evaluate both incidence and prevalence of drugs used for chronic diseases in survivors of adult-onset gynaecological cancer.

Design: A prospective study.

Setting: Population-based registries.

Reproductive history and breast cancer survival: Findings from the African breast cancer-Disparities in outcomes cohort and implications of Africa's fertility transition on breast cancer prognosis.

Reproductive characteristics are known risk factors for breast cancer but, other than recent birth, their role as prognostic factors is less clear, and has not been studied in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In this setting, we examined whether reproductive factors independently influence breast cancer survival in a subset of the African Breast Cancer-Disparities in Outcomes cohort study. In 1485 women with incident breast cancer recruited between 2014 and 2017, we examined birth cohort changes in reproductive factors, and used Cox models to examine whether reproductive characteristics were associated with all-cause mortality after adjusting for confounders (age, stage, treatment, HIV, and social factors).

Global and regional estimates of orphans attributed to maternal cancer mortality in 2020.

Despite women being disproportionally affected by cancer deaths at young ages, there are no global estimates of the resulting maternal orphans, who experience health and education disadvantages throughout their lives. We estimated the number of children who became maternal orphans in 2020 due to their mother dying from cancer in that year, for 185 countries worldwide and by cause of cancer-related death. Female cancer deaths-by country, cancer type and age (derived from GLOBOCAN estimates)-were multiplied by each woman's estimated number of children under the age of 18 years at the time of her death (fertility data were derived from United Nations World Population Prospects for birth cohort), accounting for child mortality and parity-cancer risk associations.

Stage-Specific Survival From Esophageal Cancer in China and Implications for Control Strategies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses.

Background And Aims: Esophageal cancer claims more than 500,000 deaths worldwide, with half occurring in China. We aimed to synthesize existing evidence on stage-specific survival from this cancer in China to inform cancer control strategies.

Methods: English and Chinese literature databases were systematically searched to identify original research published up to May 31, 2019 that reported stage-specific survival from esophageal cancer in China.

The association of age at menarche and adult height with mammographic density in the International Consortium of Mammographic Density.

Background: Early age at menarche and tall stature are associated with increased breast cancer risk. We examined whether these associations were also positively associated with mammographic density, a strong marker of breast cancer risk.

Methods: Participants were 10,681 breast-cancer-free women from 22 countries in the International Consortium of Mammographic Density, each with centrally assessed mammographic density and a common set of epidemiologic data.

Global disparities in access to cancer care.

Despite the significant advances made in our understanding of cancer and how to treat it over the last hundred years, there are wide global disparities in access to cancer care and in who gets to benefit from cutting-edge cancer research.

Treatment guideline concordance, initiation, and abandonment in patients with non-metastatic breast cancer from the African Breast Cancer-Disparities in Outcomes (ABC-DO) cohort in sub-Saharan Africa: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Comprehensive breast cancer management is essential to achieve high breast cancer survival; however, detailed reports of the treatment regimens received by patients are scarce in sub-Saharan Africa where survival is low. We aimed to examine treatment initiation, guideline concordance, and abandonment in patients with non-metastatic breast cancer in sub-Saharan Africa from the African Breast Cancer-Disparities in Outcomes (ABC-DO) prospective cohort.

Methods: The ABC-DO prospective cohort study recruited women (aged ≥18 years) with newly diagnosed invasive breast cancer in eight hospitals across five sub-Saharan African countries (Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, and Zambia).

Does Cardiovascular Mortality Overtake Cancer Mortality During Cancer Survivorship?: An English Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Cancer survivors have a higher risk for developing cardiovascular diseases than the general population.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate whether cardiovascular mortality overtakes cancer-specific mortality during cancer survivorship and, if so, at what point cardiovascular disease becomes the dominant cause of death.

Methods: This cohort study used linked English electronic health records, including death registration data.

Disparities in breast cancer survival between women with and without HIV across sub-Saharan Africa (ABC-DO): a prospective, cohort study.

Background: Studies have shown increased mortality among women living with HIV diagnosed with breast cancer compared with HIV-negative women with breast cancer. We aimed to examine how this HIV differential varies by patient or breast tumour characteristics.

Methods: The African Breast Cancer-Disparities in Outcomes (ABC-DO) study is a prospective cohort of women (aged ≥18 years) with incident breast cancer recruited consecutively at diagnosis (2014-17) from hospitals in Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia.

Self-reported arm and shoulder problems in breast cancer survivors in Sub-Saharan Africa: the African Breast Cancer-Disparities in Outcomes cohort study.

Background: Arm and shoulder problems (ASP), including lymphedema, were common among women with breast cancer in high-income countries before sentinel lymph node biopsy became the standard of care. Although ASP impair quality of life, as they affect daily life activities, their frequency and determinants in Sub-Saharan Africa remain unclear.

Methods: All women newly diagnosed with breast cancer at the Namibian, Ugandan, Nigerian, and Zambian sites of the African Breast Cancer-Disparities in Outcomes (ABC-DO) cohort study were included.