Table 1. Descriptive characteristics at entry of 21 213 women with breast cancer diagnosed in 1994–2006, Denmark, by vital-status of the partner at exit.
| Partner's death before diagnosis (n=762), No. (%) | Partner's death after diagnosis (n=2259), No. (%) | Partner alive at exit (n=18 192), No. (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sociodemographic characteristics | |||
| Age at time of diagnosis (years) | |||
| 30–39 | 2 (1) | 25 (1) | 1266 (7) |
| 40–49 | 40 (5) | 219 (10) | 4640 (26) |
| 50–59 | 154 (20) | 670 (30) | 6926 (38) |
| 60–69 | 385 (51) | 1061 (47) | 4501 (25) |
| ⩾70 | 181 (24) | 284 (13) | 859 (5) |
| Mean/median | 64/65 | 60/61 | 54/54 |
| Level of educationa | |||
| Basic or high school | 440 (58) | 1204 (53) | 7127 (39) |
| Vocational education | 227 (30) | 703 (31) | 6551 (36) |
| Higher education | 95 (12) | 352 (16) | 4514 (25) |
| Disposable incomeb | |||
| Lowest (1st quartile) | 340 (45) | 536 (24) | 2489 (14) |
| Middle (2nd–3rd quartile) | 308 (40) | 1107 (49) | 8468 (47) |
| Highest (4th quartile) | 114 (15) | 616 (27) | 7235 (40) |
| Medical characteristics | |||
| Tumour size (mm) | |||
| 0–10 | 98 (13) | 415 (18) | 2851 (16) |
| 11–20 | 297 (39) | 963 (43) | 7352 (40) |
| 21–50 | 311 (41) | 780 (35) | 6560 (36) |
| ⩾51 | 22 (3) | 53 (2) | 737 (4) |
| Unknown | 34 (4) | 48 (2) | 692 (4) |
| No. of positive lymph nodes | |||
| 0 | 393 (52) | 1323 (59) | 8979 (49) |
| 1–3 | 204 (27) | 644 (29) | 5380 (30) |
| ⩾4 | 140 (18) | 274 (12) | 3434 (19) |
| Unknown | 25 (3) | 18 (1) | 399 (2) |
| Malignancy grade | |||
| Grade I | 186 (24) | 660 (29) | 4197 (23) |
| Grade II | 261 (34) | 738 (33) | 6248 (34) |
| Grade III | 130 (17) | 321 (14) | 3795 (21) |
| Grade IV | 49 (6) | 85 (4) | 861 (5) |
| Unknown | 136 (18) | 455 (20) | 3091 (17) |
| ER and PR Statusc | |||
| Negative | 129 (17) | 380 (17) | 3882 (21) |
| Positive | 588 (77) | 1733 (77) | 13 254 (73) |
| Unknown | 45 (6) | 146 (6) | 1056 (6) |
| Period of diagnosis | |||
| 1994–1996 | 49 (6) | 608 (27) | 3100 (17) |
| 1997–1999 | 134 (18) | 557 (25) | 3792 (21) |
| 2000–2002 | 217 (28) | 580 (26) | 4527 (25) |
| 2003–2006 | 362 (48) | 514 (23) | 6773 (37) |
| Charlson comorbidity indexd | |||
| 0 | 603 (79) | 1976 (87) | 16 334 (90) |
| 1 | 100 (13) | 176 (8) | 1201 (7) |
| ⩾2 | 59 (8) | 107 (5) | 657 (4) |
Highest-education attained 2 years before diagnosis: basic school/high school (7–12 years of primary, secondary and grammar school); vocational training (10–12 years of education); higher education (⩾13 years of education).
Disposable income extracted 2 years before diagnosis; income quartiles calculated according to the entire population in the investigated age group, after taxation and interest per person, adjusted for number of people in the household and deflated according to the 2000 value of the Danish crown, as: deflated household income/(no. of person in household 0.6).
Negative indicates that individual was estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) negative. Positive indicates ER-positive or PR-positive.
Accumulated value of all hospital contacts from 1978 to date of diagnosis; scores weighted by level of severity assigned to 19 conditions (excluding cancers) and grouped on the basis of the cumulated sum of scores of 0, 1 and ⩾2.