Impacts of patients' occupation on clinicopathological characteristics and treatment patterns of breast cancer

Objective: To explore the impacts of female patients' occupation on clinicopathological characteristics and treatment patterns of breast cancer in China. Methods: We collected 484 breast cancer cases in succession between February 2003 and January 2004 treated in the First Affiliated Hospital, Medical School of Xi'an Jiaotong University. The differences in distribution of variables, including clinicopathological characteristics and treatment patterns between different occupation groups, were examined using Mantel-Haenszel Chi-square tests and rank sum tests to obtain P-values for the test of no-association. Results: Various occupation groups differed significantly in such variables such as tumor size, pTNM stage, mammography examination, postoperative ER, PR and Her2 detections, operation mode, and choice of chemotherapy (P<0.05). To be specific, with the increase of occupational income, the tumor stage at diagnosis was earlier, implementation rate of clinical examinations was higher, and acceptance rate of minimally invasive operation and chemotherapy was higher too. Conclusion: The more advanced breast cancer is, the lower implementation rate of clinical examinations and more negative attitude towards minimally invasive operation as well as chemotherapy are seen in occupational low-income female population.