Breast cancer: case control study in Southern Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer has become a public health problem. Many risk factors are related to the development of this neoplasm.

Objective: To evaluate the association of socioeconomic factors and reproductive characteristics with breast cancer in women belonging to the missionary macro-region of Northwest Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil.

Materials and Methods: Observational study of case control type. We included in the study women diagnosed with breast cancer attended at the Oncology High Complexity Center for Cancer Treatment and women hospitalized in the same institution due to another cause besides mammary neoplasms. The statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version (SPSS) 18.0 software, by calculating the relative and absolute frequencies, mean and standard deviation. For analytical statistics Pearson’s chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests were used.

Results: The study included 102 cases and 102 controls. The participants’ mean age (cases) was 56.4±11.5 years old and controls 60.3±18.1 years old. Among the socio-demographic variables, there was a statistically significant association to age (p=0,000) and marital status (p=0,029). On reproductive traits there were associations between the use (p=0,009) and the duration of oral contraceptive use (p=0,000), the age of the first birth (p=0,033), the menopause age (p=0,000) and the hormone replacement period (p=0,000).

Conclusions: The nurses have to improve their attention to women care in order to evaluate women's risk of developing this neoplasm and provide advice and strategies to reduce these risks.