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Women with BRCA mutation more likely to develop breast cancer while young
Litton JK. Cancer. 2011;doi:10.1002/cncr.26284.
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Carriers of the BRCA mutation were found to develop cancer almost 8 years earlier than expected, according to results from a study of women who participated in a high-risk protocol at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Women who attended the Clinical Cancer Genetics clinic from January 2003 to March 2009 at MD Anderson Cancer Center and who were identified as having deleterious BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation (Gen 2) were enrolled into the study if they could be matched with a family member in the previous generation (Gen 1) who was diagnosed with a BRCA-related cancer (n=106).
Researchers used t tests for paired data to compare age at diagnosis between generations. They conducted a secondary analysis using a method based on a parametric model for analyzing anticipation that “may allow for right-censored observations, inclusion of covariates, and drawing of statistical inference based on the likelihood function, which studies the patient family instead of parent-child pairs.”
After evaluating age differences between generations in each family, researchers determined that the t test for paired data found that 48 years was the median age at diagnosis in Gen 1 compared with 42 years in Gen 2. Researchers also considered differences by decade of birth to account for changes in medical care.
Using the parametric model, researchers found that the younger women were diagnosed 7.9 years earlier than expected. The mean value of age at onset for Gen 1 was 48.98 years with a likelihood ratio of 36.77 and one degree of freedom.
Earn CME this spring at the HemOnc Today Breast Cancer Review & Perspective meeting to be held March 23-24, 2012 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. See details at HemOncTodayBreastCancer.com.
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