TNBC vs non-TNBC: A retrospective review of differences in mean age, family history, smoking history, and stage at diagnosis.

PURPOSE This study was designed to compare mean age, ethnicity, smoking history, family history of breast cancer, and stage at diagnosis in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) vs non-TNBC at an inner city university program. METHODS We reviewed data in our tumor registry on patients seen between January 2000 and December 2005, and identified a total of 445 patients with various subtypes of breast cancers. Of these, 342 patients met our study criteria. Thirty-nine patients had TNBC and 303 had non-TNBC. RESULTS The mean age at diagnosis was 59.87 ± 15.67 years for TNBC and 60.09 ± 13.98 years for non-TNBC (P=.9272). TNBC was more common in black than in white patients (58.97% vs 35.90%; OR, 2.755; P=.004), and non-TNBC was more common in white than in black patients (57.76% vs 39.27%). There was not a statistically significant difference in past or present smoking between the TNBC and non-TNBC patients (20.51% vs 27.72%; P=.4385). Family history of breast cancer was not statistically related to TNBC status: a positive family history was reported in 30.77% of TNBC patients vs 33.33% of non-TNBC patients (P=.8384), no family history was reported in 51.28% of TNBC patients vs 51.82% of non-TNBC patients, and family history was unknown in 17.95% of TNBC patients vs 14.85% of non-TNBC patients. Pathologic stage at the time of diagnosis was as follows for TNBC vs non-TNBC patients: stage 0, 15.79% vs 11.37% (P=.4332); stage I, 34.21% vs 30.98% (P=.6890); stage II, 28.98% vs 37.25% (P=.3205); stage III, 18.42% vs 17.25% (P=.8591); and stage IV, 3.63% vs 3.14% (P=.8651). CONCLUSION We found that in our patient population, black women were significantly more likely to have TNBC than non-TNBC, and white women were more likely to have non-TNBC than TNBC.