Overall survival of patients with locoregional and metastatic breast cancer: is the influence of baseline characteristics the same?

Aim: To compare the overall survival (OS) of patients with locoregional and metastatic breast cancer (BC) considering baseline demographic, clinical and contextual characteristics. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of a cancer registry was conducted, using the Kaplan–Meier and Mantel–Cox analyses for the calculation of median OS and cumulative survival. Results: The median OS was 112 months, being longer in patients with locoregional versus those with metastatic BC at diagnosis (115 vs. 31 months, p<0.001). The cumulative survival at 1, 3 and 5 years were 94.9%, 85.6% and 76.5%, respectively. More recent year of diagnosis [hazard ratio (HR)=1.09] and age at diagnosis (≥65 vs. 40 years, HR=2.79) and presence of metastatic disease (HR=5.69) were associated with a shorter OS. The region of residence, morphology and topography of the tumor were also associated with survival in patients with BC. Rurality was only associated with lower survival in patients with metastatic BC. Conclusion: This study identified significant differences in the median OS of patients with locoregional and those with metastatic BC considering their baseline characteristics.