Experience of Breast Cancer in Arab Population in a Mixed Arab and Jewish Breast Cancer Referral Center in Israel
2Breast Cancer Center, Shamir (Assaf Harofeh) Medical Center, Affiliated to Sackler School of Medicine, Israel
Purpose: Breast Cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women globally. Our Breast Cancer Centre is a referral for patients from surrounding communities with mixed Arab and Jewish population. We aimed to characterize breast cancer tumors at diagnosis for both populations.
Methods and Materials: Review of breast cancer disease characteristics, stage and demographics at diagnosis in women referred to our institution was preformed and analyzed.
Results: 3850 women treated at our breast cancer center between 2000 and 2020, 123 (3.2%) Arab and 3727 (96.8A%) Jewish women. Average age at diagnosis was 54.3 years for Arab (range 20-90) and 59.7 year for Jewish women (range 22-98). Intraductal carcinoma (IDC) diagnosed in 100 (81%) Arab and 2893 (78%) Jewish women, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in 14 (11%) Arab and 453 (12%) Jewish women, intralobular cancer (ILC) in 9 (7%) Arab women and 334 (9%) Jewish women, papillary carcinoma diagnosed only in 47 (1%) Jewish women.
Tumor stage at diagnosis was higher for the Arab women, stages 3 and 4 more prevalent, 41 (33.3%) in Arab vs 711 (19%) in Jewish women.
Comparison between first decade (2000-2010) vs second decade (2011-2020) showed increase average age at diagnosis in Jewish (59 years vs 61.1 years) and decrease in Arab women (55.6 years vs 53.8 years). Stage at diagnosis was higher in Arab women and slightly lower in Jewish women in the second decade.
Conclusions: Arab women are younger at diagnosis of breast cancer with more progressive disease than Jewish women.
Over the past 20 years this trend has not changed.