Does Subsequent Pregnancy Influence Breast Cancer Survival?
Abstract
Since treatment decisions may be impacted by desires for childbearing following breast cancer diagnosis, this retrospective study was designed to assess the risk of recurrence and death associated with pregnancy following primary and adjuvant therapy. Many oncologists advise young patients to delay decisions about future pregnancies although the suggested latency varies considerably. This collaborative study benefits from the unique resources maintained by the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute. By record-linkage of breast cancer cases with pregnancy databases, more than 110 women have been identified who had one or more pregnancies after initial breast cancer diagnosis. These files also have identified cases without a subsequent pregnancy history closely matching on age and year of diagnosis, stage of disease and months of survival. As anticipated, medical record review for those without a history of post-treatment pregnancy has led to the identification of additional cases with a positive history of pregnancy that did not result in hospitalization and were, therefore, not identifiable from the computerized records. Although we had to relax of several matching criteria, the most essential factors were maintained: stage of disease at diagnosis and survival time comparable for the case and 4 matching comparison subjects. These matching requirements have necessitated thousands of medical records to be reviewed. A preliminary data file has been provided to the Columbia-based biostatistician to begin analyses while additional comparison cases are identified to meet the goal of four cases without subsequent pregnancy for each case with a positive history.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA385280
Entities
People
- Jeanne A. Petrek
Organizations
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center