Table 1.
Patients’ baseline characteristics according to each classic breast cancer subtype
| ER-positive/HER2-negative | HER2-positive | TNBC | P value | |
| n=108 | n=50 | n=52 | ||
| Age in years (n, %) | 0.702 | |||
| <40 | 25 (23.8) | 13 (26.0) | 14 (26.9) | |
| 40–49 | 32 (30.5) | 12 (24.0) | 12 (23.1) | |
| 50–59 | 23 (21.9) | 14 (28.0) | 9 (17.3) | |
| ≥60 | 25 (23.8) | 11 (22.0) | 17 (32.7) | |
| Missing | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Race (n, %) | 0.603 | |||
| Black | 105 (98.1) | 49 (98.0) | 52 (100) | |
| Other* | 2 (1.9) | 1 (2.0) | 0 | |
| Missing | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Education in years (n, %) | 0.253 | |||
| 0 | 20 (27.8) | 7 (17.9) | 5 (14.3) | |
| 1–4 | 9 (12.5) | 3 (7.7) | 7 (20.0) | |
| >4 | 43 (59.7) | 29 (74.4) | 23 (65.7) | |
| Missing | 36 | 11 | 17 | |
| Place of residence (n, %) | 0.178 | |||
| South (including Maputo) | 90 (89.1) | 43 (89.6) | 37 (78.7) | |
| Centre/North | 11 (10.9) | 5 (10.4) | 10 (21.3) | |
| Missing | 7 | 2 | 5 | |
| Menopausal status (n, %) | 0.916 | |||
| Premenopausal | 48 (52.7) | 24 (54.5) | 20 (50.0) | |
| Postmenopausal | 43 (47.3) | 20 (45.5) | 20 (50.0) | |
| Missing | 17 | 6 | 12 | |
| Body mass index (n, %) | 0.255 | |||
| Under/normal weight (<25 kg/m2) | 36 (42.9) | 15 (38.5) | 10 (27.0) | |
| Overweight/obese (≥25 kg/m2) | 48 (57.1) | 24 (61.5) | 27 (73.0) | |
| Missing | 24 | 11 | 15 | |
| HIV status (n, %)† | 0.043 | |||
| Negative/unknown | 67 (73.6) | 38 (86.4) | 25 (62.5) | |
| Positive | 24 (26.4) | 6 (13.6) | 15 (37.5) | |
| Missing | 17 | 6 | 12 | |
| Tumour characteristics (clinical staging) (n, %) | 0.513 | |||
| cT1 | 3 (2.8) | 3 (6.1) | 1 (1.9) | |
| cT2 | 27 (25.2) | 15 (30.6) | 14 (26.9) | |
| cT3 | 29 (27.1) | 17 (34.7) | 18 (34.6) | |
| cT4 | 48 (44.9) | 14 (28.6) | 19 (36.5) | |
| Missing | * | * | 0 | |
| Lymph node status (clinical staging) (n, %) | 0.095 | |||
| cN0 | 27 (27.6) | 20 (44.4) | 12 (26.7) | |
| cN+ | 71 (72.4) | 25 (55.6) | 33 (73.3) | |
| Missing | 10 | 5 | 7 | |
| Tumour characteristics (pathological staging) (n, %) | 0.672 | |||
| (y)pT0/Tis | 4 (5.1) | 1 (2.4) | 2 (5.9) | |
| (y)pT1 | 15 (19.2) | 8 (19.0) | 7 (20.6) | |
| (y)pT2 | 31 (39.7) | 21 (50.0) | 10 (29.4) | |
| (y)pT3 | 15 (19.2) | 7 (16.7) | 11 (32.4) | |
| (y)pT4 | 13 (16.7) | 5 (11.9) | 4 (11.8) | |
| Missing | 30 | 8 | 8 | |
| Lymph node status (pathological staging) (n, %) | 0.512 | |||
| (y)pN0 | 13 (21.7) | 11 (29.7) | 9 (31.0) | |
| (y)pN1 | 26 (43.3) | 10 (27.0) | 11 (37.9) | |
| (y)pN2 | 15 (25.0) | 9 (24.3) | 4 (13.8) | |
| (y)pN3 | 6 (10.0) | 7 (18.9) | 5 (17.2) | |
| Missing | 48 | 13 | 23 | |
| Median tumour size at surgery in millimetres (median, range) | 40 (0–180) | 40 (2.5–134) | 45 (0–180) | 0.115 |
| Missing | 31 | 8 | 18 | |
| Multifocal tumours at surgery (n, %) | 0.974 | |||
| No | 64 (88.9) | 35 (89.7) | 28 (90.3) | |
| Yes | 8 (11.1) | 4 (10.3) | 3 (9.7) | |
| Missing | 36 | 11 | 21 | |
| Lymphovascular invasion at surgery (n, %) | 0.596 | |||
| No | 14 (22.6) | 12 (30.8) | 9 (30.0) | |
| Yes | 48 (77.4) | 27 (69.2) | 21 (70.0) | |
| Missing | 46 | 11 | 22 | |
| Neural invasion at surgery (n, %) | 0.642 | |||
| No | 47 (75.8) | 29 (74.4) | 25 (83.3) | |
| Yes | 15 (24.2) | 10 (25.6) | 5 (16.7) | |
| Missing | 46 | 11 | 22 | |
| Histological grade at surgery (n, %) | 0.001 | |||
| 1 | 14 (19.2) | 16 (40.0) | 5 (16.1) | |
| 2 | 42 (57.5) | 13 (32.5) | 9 (29.0) | |
| 3 | 17 (23.3) | 11 (27.5) | 17 (54.8) | |
| Missing | 35 | 10 | 21 | |
| Histological subtype at surgery (n, %) | 0.749 | |||
| No residual tumour/in situ carcinoma | 4 (5.2) | 1 (2.4) | 2 (5.7) | |
| Invasive ductal carcinoma (NST) | 64 (82.1) | 36 (87.8) | 31 (88.6) | |
| Other invasive subtypes‡ | 10 (12.8) | 4 (9.8) | 2 (5.7) | |
| Missing | 30 | 9 | 17 | |
| Stage at diagnosis (n, %) | 0.153 | |||
| I | 1 (1.1) | 1 (2.3) | 1 (2.5) | |
| II | 14 (15.4) | 15 (34.1) | 12 (30.0) | |
| III | 58 (63.7) | 23 (52.3) | 18 (45.0) | |
| IV | 18 (19.8) | 5 (11.4) | 9 (22.5) | |
| Missing§ | 17 | 6 | 12 |
P values in bold are considered to be statistically significant (<0.05).
*Includes mixed and Indian race.
†Seven patients had unknown HIV status; among HIV-positive patients, 31 (69%) had been previously diagnosed; the median time since HIV diagnosis was 3.93 years (range: 0.1–11.7); 41 (91%) patients were under ART when starting chemotherapy, mostly with the TDF+3TC+EFV regimen (28 patients); the median time under ART was 2 years (range 0.1–11.7); the median CD4+ cell count was 448 cells/µL (range 43–1104 cells/µL) and 39 (87%) patients had a CD4+ cell count >200/μL.
‡Includes lobular, mixed, papillary, squamous cell carcinoma, metaplastic and mucinous breast cancer.
§Includes the 35 patients for whom there is available cT/N and/or (y)pT/N status, but without information regarding the presence of metastases.
ART, antiretroviral treatment; cT/N, clinical tumor status and clinical lymph node status; ER, oestrogen receptor; HER2, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; NST, no special type;TDF+3TC+EFV, tenofovir + lamivudine + efavirenz; TNBC, triple-negative breast cancer; (y)pT/N, pathological tumor status and pathological lymph node status.