Table 1.

Characteristics of 1071 breast cancer patients diagnosed at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital during October 2006–January 2012

Demographic characteristicsa	N	Column %
Age at diagnosis (years)
< 40	157	14.7
40 – 49	253	23.6
50 – 59	274	25.6
60 – 69	200	18.7
≥ 70	187	17.5
Year of diagnosis
2006–07	167	15.6
2008–09	414	38.7
2010–2012	490	45.8
Race
Black African	964	90.0
White	43	4.0
Coloured	42	3.9
Indian or Asian	18	1.7
Straight-line distance to hospital (km)
< 5	183	17.1
5 – 9.9	299	27.9
10–19.9	242	22.6
20–29.9	188	17.6
30–39.9	61	5.7
≥ 40	98	9.6
Residential area
Nearest area Farther areas:
Soweto	654	61.1
Orange Farm & Sebokeng	123	11.5
Katlehong	124	11.6
Vanderbijlpark	36	3.4
Other	134	12.5
Referral route to hospital
Via:
Primary health clinic	243	49.3
Secondary hospitals	107	21.7
Local doctor	57	11.6
Self-referral	86	17.5

Clinicopathologic Characteristics	N	Column %
Stage
Stage I	53	5.0
Stage II	431	41.0
Stage III	480	45.7
Stage IV	87	8.3
Receptor Status
ER+ and/or PR+	628	66.6
ER− and PR−	315	33.4
HER2+	235	26.0
HER2−	668	74.0
ER−/PR−/HER2−	193	21.5
HIV status for 67% of women
HIV positive	132	18.4
HIV negative	586	81.6

^a% (n) of each characteristic which was missing were 0% for age and distance (by definition of sample set) and for residential area and year of diagnosis, 1% (n=20) for stage, 12% (n=128 for ER and PR and 168 for HER2) for receptor status, 22% (n=231) for tumour size, 54% (n=578) for referral source, and 0.5% (n=4) for race.

^*Mean tumour size for all women was 40 mm (n=863).