Association of Life-Course Educational Attainment and Breast Cancer Grade in the MEND Study

Abstract

Background: Nigeria reports the highest age-standardized mortality rate for breast cancer (BC) among African countries and disproportionately high rates of high-grade cancer. Histological grade is a strong predictor of mortality, and evidence suggests that educational attainment influences cancer outcomes.Objective: We characterize the association between educational trends across the lifecourse and BC grade at diagnosis. Methods: Data on 224 BC patients enrolled in the Mechanisms for Established and NovelRisk Factors for Breast Cancer in Nigerian Women (MEND) study was analyzed. Participant and parental (mother and father) education was categorized as low (primary school or less) or high (secondary school or greater). Accordingly, the educational trend across the life-course was determined for each participant relative to each parent: stable high, increasing, decreasing, or stable low. BC grade was classified as high (grade 3) or low (grades 1-2).Findings: About 34% of participants, 71% of fathers, and 85% of mothers had low education. Approximately one-third of participants were diagnosed with high-grade BC. Participants with low-grade BC were more likely to have highly educated fathers (p = 0.04). After adjusting for age, comorbidities, marital status and mammogram screening, participants with highly educated fathers were 60% less likely to have high-grade BC

Evaluation of the Dynamics of Breast Cancer Incidence in Kyrgyzstan: Component Analysis

“…The prevalence of obesity is growing worldwide and more than 15% of adults in most countries are classified as obese [26], then, it is likely that the trends in increasing incidence in postmenopausal age are the result of the growing importance of obesity as a risk factor for cancer worldwide [27]. In addition, there are studies where it was found that people with a stable high level of education in relation to the father were more prone to low-grade cancer [28].…”