Table 1. Association of Tumor Size and Nodal Status and Grade with the Risk of Distant Recurrence in Years 5 to <10 and in Years 10 to 20.*.
| Variable | Women Who Were Event-free at 5 Yr | Annual Rate of Distant Recurrence | Cumulative Risk from 5 Yr to 20 Yr | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Chemotherapy Scheduled | 5 to <10 Yr | 10 to 20 Yr | ||
| no. | no. (%) | percent | percent | ||
| Nodal involvement | |||||
| N0 | 28,847 | 9,136 (32) | 1.0 | 1.1 | 15 |
| N1–3 | 25,292 | 17,280 (68) | 1.9 | 1.7 | 23 |
| N4–9 | 8,784 | 6,664 (76) | 3.9 | 2.8 | 38 |
| Tumor diameter in N0 only | |||||
| T1a or T1b: ≤1.0 cm | 5,527 | 910 (16) | 0.5 | 0.8 | 10 |
| T1c: 1.1–2.0 cm | 13,875 | 4,034 (29) | 0.8 | 1.1 | 14 |
| T2: 2.1–3.0 cm | 6,700 | 2,859 (43) | 1.5 | 1.4 | 19 |
| T2: 3.1–5.0 cm | 2,745 | 1,333 (49) | 1.7 | 1.4 | 20 |
| Tumor grade in T1N0 only | |||||
| Low | 3,524 | 401 (11) | 0.4 | 0.8 | 10 |
| Moderate | 7,363 | 1,861 (25) | 0.7 | 1.0 | 13 |
| High | 3,054 | 1,414 (46) | 0.9 | 1.5 | 17 |
*
Data are for 62,923 women with T1 or T2 estrogen-receptor–positive disease with 0 to 9 positive nodes who were scheduled to receive 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy and were disease-free at year 5. Most of the women entered the study at the time of diagnosis, but some entered later, having already received 2 to 5 years of endocrine therapy, and were randomly assigned to stop therapy at 5 years. P<0.001 for all subgroup comparisons.