Is Height of Prognostic Significance in Breast Cancer Cases?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate the correlation of height with prognosis and other prognostic factors in Turkish breast cancer cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed a total of 393 women aged between 26 and 88 years, diagnosed with stage 1-3 invasive ductal breast cancer, treated and followed-up in Kayseri Education and Research Hospital. FINDINGS: The mean age at admission was 55.7 years; 77.6% were aged under 65, 56.7% were postmenopausal, 97.4% had undergone modified radical mastectomy, 47.3% were AJCC stage II, 36.8% N0, 46.0% grade II, 95.4% had received chemotherapy, 81.1% radiotherapy and 71.5% hormonotherapy. Height was under 151 cm in 20.8 %, 151-160 cm in 57.3 % and over 161 in 21.9 %. Follow-up duration differed between 0.3 and 195.3 months. Mean overal survival (OS) was 125.0 (65.6-184.3) months and progression free survival was 91.5 (37.7-145.2) months, with a tendency for better survival in taller individuals but no signficant variation between height groups. The 5 and 10-year OS rates were 74.5% and 56.4%, and PFS rates were 64.5% and 49.2%. Regarding association of height with other prognostic factors, a significant correlation was found between height and AJCC stage (p= 0.011) and estrogen status (ER) (p= 0.043). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, overal survival was found to be longer in patients with a height between 151 and 160 cm than those under 151 cm and over 161 cm. The reason for not obtaining significant results might be a relatively small number of patients and lack of the evaluation of clinical and pathologic characteristics together with anthropometric measurements in the patient population. Further studies are warranted to clarify any association.