English abstract
Objectives: We sought to determine the overall observed three-year survival rate
of women with breast cancer in Basrah, Iraq, and investigate the associated factors.
Methods: Data was collected retrospectively from the Oncology Center registry in
Basrah, all newly diagnosed women with breast cancer between 1 January 2013 and
31 December 2014 were included and followed-up until 31 December 2017. We
used the Kaplan-Meier method to estimate the overall survival rates. Cox regression
analysis was used to investigate the association between survival and prognostic factors.
Results: A total of 605 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer during 2013–
2014 were included in the study, 44.1% had advanced tumor stages (stage III and IV).
The overall observed three-year survival rate was 83.3%. Cox regression analysis showed
that late stage (stage IV vs. stage I hazard ratio (HR) = 4.65; 95% confidence interval
(CI): 3.28–7.81) and grade (poorly vs. well differentiated HR = 4.10; 95% CI: 3.01–
6.82) were significantly associated with poor survival. Conclusions: The overall observed
survival rate of women with breast cancer in Basrah was comparable to that reported for
developing countries, but it is poorer than that of developed countries. Advanced stage
and poorly differentiated tumors were significant predictors of poor survival.
