Table 1 Characterization of included breast cancer patients and description of initial treatment phase by age at diagnosis

Mean age at diagnosis (SD)

62.8

(12.2)

43.9

(4.5)

61.0

(5.9)

73.6

(2.8)

84.1

(3.6)

Stage at diagnosis

 No affected lymph nodes/distant metastases

8816

(81.6%)

1419

(81.1%)

4910

(82.5%)

1702

(80.3%)

785

(79.9%)

 Affected lymph nodes only

1454

(13.5%)

266

(15.2%)

781

(13.1%)

284

(13.4%)

123

(12.5%)

 Distant metastases

532

(4.9%)

65

(3.7%)

259

(4.4%)

133

(6.3%)

75

(7.6%)

Breast surgery^a

 Breast conserving surgery only

7518

(69.6%)

1234

(70.5%)

4511

(75.8%)

1401

(66.1%)

372

(37.8%)

 Mastectomy

3284

(30.4%)

516

(29.5%)

1439

(24.2%)

718

(33.9%)

611

(62.2%)

 Both types of surgery

1078

(10.0%)

222

(12.7%)

605

(10.2%)

179

(8.4%)

72

(7.3%)

 Two or more surgeries

2716

(25.1%)

543

(31.0%)

1588

(26.7%)

452

(21.3%)

133

(13.5%)

Neoadjuvant systemic therapy

 Yes

954

(8.8%)

330

(18.9%)

497

(8.4%)

101

(4.8%)

26

(2.6%)

Adjuvant systemic therapy^b

 Cytostatic drugs

4446

(41.2%)

1101

(62.9%)

2723

(45.8%)

581

(27.4%)

41

(4.2%)

 Monoclonal antibody

96

(0.9%)

18

(1.0%)

55

(0.9%)

20

(0.9%)

3

(0.3%)

 Hormone therapy

5173

(47.9%)

524

(29.9%)

2758

(46.4%)

1257

(59.3%)

634

(64.5%)

Radiotherapy^c

 Within ten months after breast surgery

8073

(74.7%)

1398

(79.9%)

4773

(80.2%)

1565

(73.9%)

337

(34.3%)

 Before breast surgery

58

(0.5%)

9

(0.5%)

38

(0.6%)

9

(0.4%)

2

(0.2%)