Incidence and Clinicopathological Features of Breast Cancer in the Northern Emirates: Experience from Sharjah Breast Care Center

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most frequently reported cancer among women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. However, the available data about women breast cancer from the MENA and particularly from the Northern Emirates region of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are scarce and inconsistent. Therefore, this study estimated the incidence, patient-specific factors including 25(OH)D levels, and clinicopathological features of breast cancer in women from the Northern Emirates. METHODS: We conducted this retrospective case–control study on 1,048 women who were referred to the Sharjah Breast Care Centre at University Hospital Sharjah between March 2016 and July 2018. Multivariate logistic regression was used for the statistical analysis of clinical data. RESULTS: Out of 1048 women with breast-related conditions referred to our canter, 94 (10%) were diagnosed with breast cancer (1 in 11), and approximately 1 in 5 of these women was younger than 40 years. After adjusting for age, body mass index and menopause status, women with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels lower than 20 ng/mL were found to be at higher risk of breast cancer (odd ratio, 4.63; 95% CI, 2.61–8.23). The majority of breast cancer cases had invasive-ductal carcinoma with hormone-positive receptor molecular subtype (78 cases out of 94, 83%). HER2 overexpressing tumor (3+ by immunohistochemistry (IHC) or by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)) was seen more in women younger than 40 years as compared to older women (7 cases out of 19 HER2 expressed tumors, p=0.007). CONCLUSION: Our study cohort showed a mean age of diagnosis of breast cancer in women a decade earlier than in the developed countries. Furthermore, women with breast cancer tend to be serum 25(OH)D deficient at diagnosis and to have luminal A tumors.