Special Issue:Breast neoplasms
Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women worldwide, characterized by high incidence and heavy disease burden.
To assess the secular trend of breast cancer incidence and mortality in Chinese females from 1990 to 2019.
The data on breast cancer incidence and mortality in Chinese females aged ≥15 years from 1990 to 2019 were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Bayesian age-period-cohort (APC) model was used to fit breast cancer incidence and mortality trends during 1990—2019 to assess the effects of age, period and cohort on breast cancer incidence and mortality.
The crude incidence of breast cancer among Chinese females increased from 14.14/100 000 to 52.81/100 000, and the crude mortality increased from 7.22/100 000 to 13.40/100 000 during 1990—2019.The standardized incidence of breast cancer showed an increasing trend in general (17.07/100 000 in 1990, 35.61/100 000 in 2019) , while the standardized breast cancer mortality was basically stable (9.16/100 000 in 1990, 8.98/100 000 in 2019) .The results of the APC model showed that the average net drift value of breast cancer incidence in females of all age groups was 2.58%〔95%CI (2.34%, 2.83%) 〕, and the highest value of local drift was 3.46%〔95%CI (3.11%, 3.80%) 〕 in the 65-69 years old group. The average net drift value of mortality was -0.75%〔95%CI (-1.09%, -0.41%) 〕. The local drift value was stable in 15-44-year-olds, and was above 0 in age groups above 60 years old. The incidence and mortality of breast cancer increased with age. The period effect of incidence showed an increasing trend (RR: 0.79-1.47) , while the period effect of mortality showed a decreasing trend (RR: 1.08-0.90) when the period of 2000—2004 was set as the control group. The cohort effect of breast cancer incidence increased (RR: 0.27-2.48) , and the cohort effect of breast cancer mortality risk increased firstly and decreased after then (RR: 0.78-1.06-0.44) when the cohort of 1955—1959 was set as the control group.
The incidence and mortality of breast cancer in Chinese females increased continuously from 1990 to 2019, which was dominantly influenced by age and cohort.
Worldwide, breast cancer has become the most common malignancy, and many breast cancer survivors struggle with psychological problems in treatment and recovery. The efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in the psychological care of breast cancer patients has been confirmed in many systematic reviews (SRs) . However, due to inconsistent outcome measures used in various SRs, the review results cannot be directly applied to clinical practice.
To perform an overview of the SRs of the efficacy of MBSR in breast cancer patients, providing a reference for the making of psychological care interventions for these patients.
PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsycINFO, JBI, CNKI, Wanfang Data, and CBM were searched from inception to July 2022 for SRs of patients with breast cancer treated with MBSR. Literature screening and data extraction were performed by two researchers independently. Methodological quality was assessed using the AMSTAR 2. The standardization of reporting quality was assessed using the PRISMA checklist. Quality of evidence and strength of recommendations were assessed using the GRADE approach. The confidence of evidence from qualitative SRs was assessed using the CERQual.
Fourteen SRs were included. The methodological quality of included SRs was generally low, with only one being of high quality and two fatally missing key items. The defects in reporting quality were mainly in study protocol registration, risk of bias assessment and funding sources. Fifteen outcomes and 73 evidence bodies (0, 31, 28 and 6 were classified as high, moderate, low, and very low quality, respectively, by the GRADE approach, and the other 8 were classified as low quality by the CERQual approach) were identified in the SRs in total. MBSR could relieve anxiety, depression, fatigue, and stress in breast cancer patients to varying degrees, whose efficacy has proven to be significant in a short-term, but is uncertain in a long-term.
Generally, SRs on MBSR improving psychological condition in breast cancer patients contain unsatisfactory quality of evidence, whose methodological quality and standardization level of reporting quality still need to be improved further. Moreover, the shorter-term effect of MBSR has been confirmed, but its long-term effect is uncertain, and requires to be evaluated by more high-quality, large-sample clinical studies.
The overall incidence of breast cancer in Chinese women is on the rise, seriously threatening their physical and mental health. Breast cancer prevention and treatment behaviors are critical to the outcomes of affected women in the community. However, these behaviors vary across individuals. And measures should be explored to improve the efficacy of such behaviors.
To perform a latent class analysis of breast cancer prevention and treatment behaviors among community-living women, and to explore the associated factors, providing evidence for individualized prevention and management of female breast cancer in the community.
A total of 1 355 community-living women were selected from in 15 towns/subdistricts of 5 counties/districts in Yinchuan and Zhongwei cities of Ningxia, China by use of convenience sampling method from November 2019 to August 2020. They were surveyed using a questionnaire consisting of baseline characteristics, and breast cancer prevention and treatment behaviors (relevant questions used are belonging to the part of breast cancer prevention and treatment in the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Among Women in Ningxia) . The latent classes of breast cancer prevention and treatment behaviors were presented, and their influencing factors were identified by multivariable logistic regression analysis.
The survey achieved a response rate of 97.93% (1 327/1 355) .By use of latent class analysis, breast cancer prevention and treatment behaviors of the respondents were classified into four latent classes, including positive prevention and treatment (n=522, 39.34%) , high-risk behaviors plus positive treatment (n=449, 33.83%) , high-risk behaviors plus negative treatment (n=229, 17.26%) , and general prevention and treatment (n=127, 9.57%) . The overall median score of breast cancer prevention and treatment behaviors was 9.00 (7.00, 11.00) points for all respondents. The median score of breast cancer prevention and treatment behaviors was 11.00 (11.00, 12.00) points for respondents with positive prevention and treatment behaviors, 9.00 (8.00, 10.00) points for those with high-risk behaviors plus positive treatment behaviors, 6.00 (5.00, 6.00) points for those with high-risk behaviors plus negative treatment behaviors, and 8.00 (6.00, 9.00) points for those with general prevention and treatment behaviors, with significant difference across the groups (H=1 008.493, P<0.001) . Multivariable Logistic regression analysis showed that, compared with general prevention and treatment behaviors, living in Zhongwei and having a history of childbirth were associated with increased possibility of being classified into positive prevention and treatment behaviors, having health insurance〔urban resident basic medical insurance (URBMI) , commercial health insurance, or other types〕, self-pay treatment, and a history of hormone replacement therapy were associated with increased possibility of being classified into general prevention and treatment behaviors (P<0.05) , having a history of childbirth were associated with increased possibility of being classified into high-risk behaviors plus positive treatment behaviors, having health insurance (URBMI or commercial health insurance) , as well as a history of hormone replacement therapy were associated with increased possibility of being classified into general prevention and treatment behaviors (P<0.05) , and primary education or below, household monthly income per person of 1 000-2 999 yuan were associated with increased possibility of being classified into high-risk behaviors plus negative treatment behaviors, and having URBMI were associated with increased possibility of being classified into general prevention and treatment behaviors (P<0.05) .
In general, breast cancer prevention and treatment behaviors in this group could be definitely classified, all being performed at a moderate level. To improve the level of breast cancer prevention and treatment behaviors of Ningxia's community-living women, focus should be on those who have high-risk behaviors and negatively seek for treatment. Moreover, the problems in positive breast cancer prevention and treatment behaviors in women with other three classes of behaviors should also be intervened and corrected to improve the outcomes of them.
Breast cancer has become the most prevalent cancer worldwide, which leads to both physical symptom burden and psychological distress among patients. Although available literature has demonstrated the effect of physical activity in improving psychological health among breast cancer survivors, the underlying psychosocial mechanism is relatively understudied.
To investigate the association of walking with positive and negative affect among breast cancer patients, and examine the potential mediating effects of different dimensions of posttraumatic growth between them.
From April to July, 2019, 256 breast cancer patients receiving community-based management were recruited using convenience sampling from Shanghai Pengpuxincun Community Health Center to attend a household survey. Two hundred and thirty-five of them who completed the survey were included as final participants (achieving a response rate of 91.8%) . Levels of walking were measured using International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Long Form (IPAQ-long) , posttraumatic growth was assessed using Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-Short Form (PTGI-SF) , emotional health was assessed using the 20-item Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) . Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the parallel mediating effects of different dimensions of posttraumatic growth between walking and positive and negative affect.
The result of intermediary effect analysis show that, walking was associated with greater positive affect through facilitating the personal strength dimension of posttraumatic growth among breast cancer patients, with an indirect effect of 0.07〔95%CI (0.02, 0.13) 〕. Moreover, walking was associated with lower level of negative affect through facilitating the appreciation for life dimension of posttraumatic growth, with an effect size of -0.13〔95%CI (-0.21, -0.05) 〕. The result of the intermediary model show that, the level of walking activity promoted positive emotions (β=0.34, P<0.01) by promoting the personal strength dimension of post-traumatic growth (β=0.21, P<0.01) . In addition, walking activity decreased negative mood (β=-0.37, P<0.01) by promoting the life appreciation dimension of post-traumatic growth (β=0.35, P<0.01) .
Posttraumatic growth plays an important role as a mediator between walking and emotional health in breast cancer patients. In view of this, physicians from community health centers, the institutions responsible for long-term health management of cancer patients, should value walking as a potential intervention for improving psychological health of breast cancer patients in the future community health management. In addition, it is recommended to use both physical activity and psychological interventions to improve posttraumatic growth, in order to further enhance the intervention efficacy.
Earlier studies have investigated the association between overweight/obesity and an elevated risk of breast cancer in women. However, some studies have found that it may not be scientifically accurate to solely analyze the association between overweight/obesity and breast cancer in women for overweight/obesity can be classified into different metabolic phenotypes. The current findings on the association of different metabolic phenotypes with breast cancer remain inconsistent.
To prospectively analyze the associations of different metabolic obesity phenotypes with the risk of breast cancer in women.
In this prospective cohort study, female employees (n=23 406) of Kailuan Group who participated in physical examinations for the first time in Kailuan General Hospital and its 11 affiliated hospitals from 2006 to 2008 were selected as the study subjects and received questionnaire investigation, physical examination and laboratory tests. The study subjects were divided into the four groups based on the types of metabolic syndrome and BMI, including metabolically healthy normal weight (MHNW) group (n=12 739), metabolically unhealthy normal weight (MUNW) group (n=1 060), metabolically healthy overweight/obese (MHO) group (n=6 394), and metabolically unhealthy overweight/obese (MUO) group (n=3 213). The subjects were followed up, with the first physical examination attended as the starting point, and new onset breast cancer, death, or the end of follow-up time (2020-12-31) as the endpoints. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to estimate the association of the four groups with the risk of breast cancer.
During an average follow-up of (13.26±1.85) years, with 353 new cases of breast cancer and an incidence density of 11.38 cases per 10 000 person-years in the total population. The incidence cases in the MHNW, MUNW, MHO, and MUO groups were 154, 21, 113, and 65, respectively, with the incidence density of 9.08, 15.37, 13.27, and 15.49 per 10 000 person-years, and the cumulative incidence of 1.22%, 2.01%, 1.67%, and 1.93%, respectively. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model analysis, after adjusting for confounders, showed that compared with the MHNW group, the risk of breast cancer was increased by 42% (HR=1.42, 95%CI=1.11-1.82) and 59% (HR=1.59, 95%CI=1.17-2.17) in the MHO group and MUO group, respectively. Stratified analysis by menopausal status showed that compared to the MHNW group, the MUO group was associated with a 69% increase in risk of premenopausal breast cancer (HR=1.69, 95%CI=1.01-2.83). The risk of postmenopausal breast cancer was increased by 85% (HR=1.85, 95%CI=1.09-3.14), 50% (HR=1.50, 95%CI=1.06-2.13), and 55% (HR=1.55, 95%CI=1.05-2.28) for the MUNW, MHO, and MUO groups, respectively, compared to the MHNW group.
Overweight/obesity is a risk factor for female breast cancer, and overweight/obesity with metabolic abnormalities further increases the risk of breast cancer. Additionally, normal weight postmenopausal women who are metabolically unhealthy may be at an increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.
Breast cancer and ischemic stroke are two important diseases that endanger human health. More and more studies have shown that the incidence of breast cancer with ischemic stroke is higher than that of the general population, however, its pathogenesis, optimal treatment and prevention strategies are still unclear. This article summarized the evidence literature on the epidemiology, risk factors, clinical and imaging features, pathogenesis and prevention measures of breast cancer-related ischemic stroke, aiming to sort out the research progress of breast cancer-related ischemic stroke, as well as the potential strategies to solve the above problems.
Breast cancer is the most prevalent malignancy in the world. Endocrine therapy reduces the level of estrogen in vivo, thus affecting the blood lipid level, which reduces the quality of life and the treatment compliance of patients.
To analyze the clinical characteristics and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription of hyperlipidemia in estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer patients during endocrine therapy in real world.
Based on method of retrospective study, a total of 238 patients with ER positive breast cancer who received endocrine therapy in Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2012 to March 2022 were selected as the study subjects. The data including age, triglyceride, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, endocrine therapy drugs, TCM prescriptions of the patients were exported through the search platform of scientific research big data to establish a clinical data table of the patients. ER positive breast cancer patients with normal baseline blood lipid levels were divided into the normal group and dyslipidemia group according to the blood lipid levels during endocrine therapy, and hyperlipidemia was classified into hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia and mixed hyperlipidemia. The exported prescriptions were analyzed for frequency, four properties, five flavors, channel tropism and medication regularity by using the "prescription analysis", an auxiliary platform for TCM inheritance, to obtain new prescriptions.
Among 238 ER positive breast cancer patients, 97 patients (40.8%) had normal baseline blood lipid levels, of whom 42 patients (205 person-time return visit) developed dyslipidemia during standardized endocrine therapy. Among the patients with dyslipidemia, 37.6% (77/205) occurred in the age group of 51 to 60 years as the highest number; 86 person-time with dyslipidemia received exemestane treatment, accounting for the highest proportion of 42.0%. Among the 42 patients with dyslipidemia (205 person-time return visit) , hyperlipidemia occurred in 99 person-time, and hypercholesterolemia occurred in 49.5% (49/99) . There was no statistically significance difference in the age of patients with three types of hyperlipidemia (P>0.05) . There were statistically significance differences in the proportion of endocrine therapy types among patients with three types of hyperlipidemia (P<0.05) . There were 189 kinds of TCM prescriptions for hyperlipidemia in ER positive breast cancer patients during endocrine treatment, licorice was the most frequently used medicine (408 times) , the highest frequency of use was tonifying qi drug (22.6%) . The channels of TCM collected by the big data platform were mainly distributed in the spleen, lung and liver channels. The properties of TCM were mainly cold, flat and warm, and the flavors were mainly sweet, bitter and pungent. The combination of "Astragalus and Licorice" had the highest frequency. Six core drug combinations and three new prescriptions were obtained through complex system entropy clustering analysis.
The highest incidence of hyperlipidemia in ER positive breast cancer patients during endocrine therapy is 51-60 years old, and hypercholesterolemia is the most common. The position of hyperlipidemia in ER positive breast cancer patients during endocrine therapy is in the spleen. The medication are maily used for invigorating spleen to remove dampness, tonifying qi and regulating stomach.
Due to many barriers, it is difficult for primary medical institutions to ensure substantial achievements in breast cancer screening. So it is particularly important to establish a system for scientifically and effectively assessing the capacities of primary care institutions in conducting breast cancer screening.
To construct a system for assessing the capacities of primary care institutions for conducting breast cancer screening.
From September to October 2022, through literature review and group discussion, we developed an item pool of the initial version of Breast Cancer Screening Capacity Assessment System for Primary Care Institutions (BCSCASPCI) . Then we conducted an online Delphi survey between November and December 2022 using a self-developed questionnaire with a purposive sample of 21 experts for understanding their views regarding the initial version of BCSCASPCI, and the response coefficient, authority coefficient, and the Kendall's W of the survey were calculated. Finally, based on the results of the survey and a group discussion, the final version of the BCSCASPCI was determined. The Analytic Hierarchy Process was used to determine the weight coefficients of its indicators and to examine the logical consistency of indicators.
All the experts returned effective questionnaires, achieving a response rate of 100.0%, and the authority coefficient was 0.812, and the Kendall's W was 0.209 (P<0.001) . The final version of the BCSCASPCI consists of 3 primary indicators (structure, process, and outcome) , 10 secondary indicators, and 56 tertiary indicators. The weight coefficients of the 3 primary indicators were 0.310 8, 0.195 8 and 0.493 4, respectively. The consistency ratios of indicators at each level were <0.100.
Our BCSCASPCI has proven to be highly authoritative and scientific, and is expected to provide guidance and reference for studies related to breast cancer screening capacity assessment. But the applicability and application effects of the system still needs further verification.
Breast cancer has become the most common malignant tumor threatening the health of Chinese women in recent years. The use of tamoxifen (TAM) has successfully reduced the recurrence and progression of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, however, it also increases the risk of endometrial lesions.
To explore the risk factors for endometrial lesions in breast cancer patients taking TAM, determine the optimal threshold value of endometrial thickness, and improve the positive detection rate of hysteroscopy.
Breast cancer patients taking TAM (20 mg/d) who underwent hysteroscopic endometrial biopsy admitted to the Department of Gynecology of the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University from January 2015 to January 2022 were retrospectively selected as the study objects and divided into the negative hysteroscopic endometrial biopsy group (normal endometrium) and positive hysteroscopic endometrial biopsy group (endometrial lesions including endometrial polyps, endometrial hyperplasia without atypia, endometrial atypical hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma). Clinical data of the patients were collected, including age, BMI, history of hypertension and diabetes, delivery times, presence of menopause and abnormal uterine bleeding/postmenopausal bleeding (AUB/PMB), receiving of chemotherapy, duration of TAM treatment, use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRH-a), endometrial thickness, echo features of intrauterine lesions. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the risk factors for endometrial lesions in breast cancer patients taking TAM. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of endometrial thickness for predicting endometrial lesions detected by hysteroscopy was plotted, and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) and its 95%CI were calculated to determine the optimal cut-off value of endometrial thickness for receiving hysteroscopic surgery.
The proportion of patients with AUB/PMB, duration of TAM treatment≥24 months, intrauterine hyperechoic lesions and endometrial thickness in the positive hysteroscopic endometrial biopsy group were higher than those in the negative hysteroscopic endometrial biopsy group (P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that AUB/PMB〔OR=7.731, 95%CI (1.949, 30.699), P=0.004〕, endometrial thickening〔OR=1.223, 95%CI (1.091, 1.371), P=0.001〕 and intrauterine hyperechoic lesions〔OR=13.383, 95%CI (2.751, 65.103), P=0.001〕were independent risk factors for endometrial lesions detected by hysteroscopy in breast cancer patients taking TAM. The AUC of endometrial thickness for predicting endometrial lesions detected by hysteroscopy in breast cancer patients taking TAM was 0.753〔95%CI (0.638, 0.868), P<0.001〕, with the Youden index of 0.54, optimal cut-off value of 9.15 mm, sensitivity and specificity of 0.755 and 0.786, respectively.
The risk of endometrial lesions is increased in breast cancer patients taking TAM with AUB/PMB, endometrial thickness≥9.15 mm suggested by ultrasound and intrauterine hyperechoic lesions, when the hysteroscopy and endometrial biopsy should be actively considered.