Clinicopathologic Features of Breast Cancer in Egypt—Contemporary Profile and Future Needs: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PURPOSE: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among Egyptian females. No current national cancer database is available in Egypt to provide reliable data on the specific clinicopathologic features of BC in this population. Herein, we investigated the clinical profile of BC among Egyptian women. METHODS: A systematic review of studies on BC published from inception until December 2021 was performed. We explored pooled estimated proportions of different stages of BC at presentation in Egypt and other clinicopathologic features including age, menopausal status, tumor (T) and lymph node (N) stages, and biological subtypes. Data analysis was performed using meta package (R). RESULTS: Twenty-six studies were eligible for our systematic review and meta-analysis, including 31,172 BC cases. In 12 studies, including 15,067 patients with BC, the estimated mean age was 50.46 years (95% CI, 48.7 to 52.1; I(2), 99%), with a pooled proportion of premenopausal/perimenopausal women of 57% (95% CI, 50 to 63; I(2), 98%). Among 9,738 patients with BC, pooled proportions of stage I, II, III, and IV were 6% (95% CI, 4 to 8; I(2), 90%), 37% (95% CI, 31 to 43; I(2), 93%), 45% (95% CI, 42 to 49; I(2), 78%), and 11% (95% CI, 9 to 15; I(2), 87%), respectively. The pooled proportions of patients with T3 and T4 tumors were 21% (95% CI, 14 to 31; I(2), 99%) and 8% (95% CI, 5 to 12; I(2), 96%), respectively, while those with positive lymph nodes were 70% (95% CI, 59 to 79; I(2), 99%). CONCLUSION: Dominance of advanced stage and young age at diagnosis represented the two main features of BC among Egyptian women. Our data may serve to guide the policymakers in Egypt as well as other countries with lower resources to prioritize the diagnostic and therapeutic needs in this context.