Prognosis of breast cancer patients with familial history classified according to their menopausal status.

Breast cancer patients were classified in the family history positive (FHP) group when they had at least one second-degree relative who was a breast cancer patient. The results of a comparative study with patients classified in the family history negative (FHN) group showed the prognosis of the FHP group was significantly better than that of the FHN group. However, when those patients were classified according to their menopausal status at onset, there were no significant differences in survival rates between the FHP and FHN groups with onset before menopause, whereas the survival rate of the FHP group was significantly higher than that of the FHN group with onset after menopause. The same results were found when the FHP group was subgrouped into the FHP group with first-degree relatives and the FHP group with second-degree relatives. Further investigations on background factors revealed that the patients with onset before menopause showed no significant differences between the FHP and FHN groups in age at surgery, diameter of the tumor, histologic grade, the number of metastatic lymph nodes, body weight, estrogen receptor (ER) status, and the values of CEA and CA15-3 before surgery. On the other hand, the FHP patients with onset after menopause showed significantly lower numbers of metastatic lymph nodes and trends showing higher ER values and lower CA15-3-values. Therefore the favorable prognosis in the FHP group seems to be attributable to the higher survival rate of the FHP patients with onset after menopause.