142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

315728
Patterns of breast cancer screening in women who utilized clinical services at the Trinidad & Tobago Cancer Society during 2009-2011

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 1:10 PM - 1:30 PM

Marlon Joseph, MPH , Department of Biological Sciences, St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY
Trinidad and Tobago (TT) experiences the highest breast cancer mortality in the Caribbean; the distribution of traditional breast cancer risk factors in this population has not been analyzed. Data on women who underwent breast cancer screening at the TT Cancer Society between January 2009–December 2011(N =  2,689) were retrospectively collected. The screening detected 131 incident breast cancers; variables significantly associated with breast cancer diagnosis were, a positive family history of breast cancer (adjusted odds ratio [ORadj ]: 1.55; 95 % CI 1.00–2.41), presence of symptoms (ORadj : 1.91; 95 % CI 1.25–2.92), and previous breast surgery (ORadj : 1.67; 95 % CI 0.97–2.88). Breast cancer was significantly associated with increased breast density. Among healthy women, breast density was positively associated with nulliparity (ORadj : 1.46, 1.37, 2.52 respectively for density level 2, 3 and 4 vs. 1) and previous breast surgeries (ORadj : 2.27, 3.09 and 4.13 respectively for density level 2, 3 and 4 vs. 1). This analysis confirms that breast density is an important predictor of newly diagnosed breast cancer in this Caribbean population. Screening is still a diagnostic tool rather than a preventive measure in TT.

Learning Areas:

Chronic disease management and prevention
Epidemiology
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Assess the annual rates of screening-diagnosed breast cancer of women who utilized mammography services at the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society during 2009-2011 Identify and analyze factors predicting the occurrence of breast cancer in this population Describe the characteristics of the newly diagnosed cases Describe personal and behavioral factors associated with breast density in healthy (non cases) women of the sample.

Keyword(s): Cancer and Women’s Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the principal investigator of this pilot breast cancer study related to identifying breast cancer incidence patterns in Trinidad and Tobago women. I am an epidemiologist and college biology professor, originally from Trinidad and Tobago. My research interest relates to biomarkers associated with cancer occurrence in Caribbean men and women, gene and environment interaction and epigenetics. I'm currently analyzing a large hospital based pathology dataset collected in Trinidad over a 10yr period.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.