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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2018 Aug 28;103(1):62–70. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2018.08.036

Table 4.

Clinical and Treatment Factor Hazard Ratios for the Risk of Early-Onset (>3 and ≤ 12 months postoperatively) versus Late-Onset (>12 months postoperatively) Lymphedema

Clinical Factor Development of Lymphedema

Multivariate (Early) Multivariate (Late)

No. of women No. of Early LymphED No. of Late LymphED Adjusted HR (95% CI) P Adjusted HR (95% CI) P

Age at diagnosis, years
 ≥50 vs 1477 66 90 -- -- -- --
 <50 785 45 32

BMI at diagnosis
 ≥30 vs 532 42 41 2.24 (1.5,3.36) 0.0001 2.01 (1.35,2.98) 0.0005
 <30 1393 54 66

Tumor type
 DCIS vs 219 5 7 0.52 (0.16,1.71) 0.2814 0.56 (0.18,1.78) 0.3289
 IBC 2047 106 115

Breast surgery
 Mastectomy vs 1034 36 53 0.69 (0.43,1.1) 0.1143 0.88 (0.58,1.34) 0.554
 Lumpectomy 1232 75 69

Axillary surgery
 ALND vs 547 67 63 4.75 (2.56,8.82) <0.0001 1.86 (1.07,3.24) 0.0289
 SLNB 1520 38 53

Radiation
 RLNR vs 541 55 57 1.21 (0.65,2.27) 0.546 3.86 (2.01,7.43) 0.0001
 No RLNR 903 31 30

Lymph nodes removed
 ≥3 vs 980 80 77 -- -- -- --
 <3 1114 25 38

Chemotherapy
 Yes 1017 26 27 0.73 (0.4,1.33) 0.3061 0.7 (0.4,1.22) 0.2112
 No 1249 85 95

Hormonal therapy
 Yes vs 1646 82 91 -- -- -- --
 No 620 29 31

Abbreviations: LymphED, lymphedema; No., number; BMI, body mass index; SLNB, sentinel lymph node biopsy; ALND, axillary lymph node dissection; RLNR, regional lymph node radiation; LN, lymph node; RT, radiation therapy; DCIS, ductal carcinoma in situ; IBC, invasive breast cancer