Purpose: To describe sociodemographic, epidemiologic, and clinical characteristics of patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer and registered in the Institutional Tumor Registry of Argentina (RITA) as of April 2016.
Methods: This was an observational, descriptive case study in patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer between April 2012 and April 2016 and registered in RITA. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were done, including delay from symptoms to first consultation, delay from diagnosis to treatment (opportunities), as well as patients' survival (Kaplan-Meier and log-rank tests).
Results: There were 4,883 identified patients and 4,950 tumors. The mean age of patients was 57.6 years (median, 56 years); 60% of patients had completed elementary studies, 46.8% had some health coverage, and 85.4% of diagnoses were made by tumor histology (TNM stage: T2 19%, N0 20%, M0 29.1%; clinical stages II and III: 34.7%). In terms of morphology, 89.6% of primary tumors had malignant behavior (76% ductal, 8% lobular); and for immunohistochemistry, 34.3% were estrogen receptor positive/progesterone receptor positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative. The longest delays analyzed were from diagnosis date to the beginning of first treatment. Survival rates were 96% for up to 24 months and 84.7% for up to 36 months.
Conclusion: For the first time in Argentina, there is systematized information on the care of oncology patients at public health institutions, which is useful for improving patients' care. We found that RITA collects important information for the identification of groups with similar sociodemographic and clinical characteristics that could show different vulnerabilities along the disease process.