Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40717086›Full record

ArticleBMC cancer2025

Stage at diagnosis and tumor characteristics among young women and men with breast cancer, in Ethiopia and Sweden, a descriptive cross-sectional study.

Tove Ekdahl Hjelm, Tewodros Yalew Gebremariam, Mahlet Fekadu Weldearegay, Moti Sori, Marcus Bauer, Bethlehem Ayele Getachew, Mathewos Assefa, Endale Anberber, Hidaya Yahya Mohammed, Eva Johanna Kantelhardt and 4 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMC cancer, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Tove Ekdahl Hjelm *Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. tove.ekdahl.hjelm@ki.se.
Tewodros Yalew Gebremariam *Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Mahlet Fekadu WeldearegayDepartment of Pathology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Moti SoriDepartment of Pathology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Marcus BauerInstitute of Pathology, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
Bethlehem Ayele GetachewDepartment of Oncology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Mathewos AssefaDepartment of Oncology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Endale AnberberDepartment of Surgery, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Hidaya Yahya MohammedDepartment of Pathology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Eva Johanna KantelhardtGlobal Health Working Group, Institute of Medical Epidemiology, Biometrics, and Informatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
Sara MargolinDepartment of Oncology, Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden.
Annika LindblomDepartment of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Senait AshenafiDepartment of Oncology, Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden.
Jenny LöfgrenDepartment of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundBreast cancer patients diagnosed in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are generally younger, and present with more advanced stage of disease, than those in high-income countries. In addition, male breast cancer appears to be more prevalent in SSA. Young women and men are typically not included in national mammography screening programs. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare clinical and pathological data from a breast-cancer-patient cohort not covered by mammography screening, in a low-income country in SSA (Ethiopia), to a similar patient cohort from a high-income country in Europe (Sweden).

methodsWomen (< 40 years) and men (all ages) with breast cancer were recruited in Ethiopia and Sweden. Patient- and tumor data was collected. In Ethiopia, 100 study participants were recruited prospectively from the Departments of Surgery and Oncology at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. In Sweden, 100 study participants were enrolled retrospectively from the Department of Oncology at Södersjukhuset, Stockholm.

resultsEthiopian and Swedish study participants were diagnosed in tumor stage I (3.3% vs 27.0%), stage II (33.7% vs 45.0%), stage III (44.6% vs 23%), and stage IV (18.5% vs 5.0%). This represents a significant difference in stage distribution between groups (p < 0.001). A majority of the cases were ER-positive (79.5% in Ethiopia and 69.0% in Sweden, p = 0.08). The ER- and/or PgR-positive/HER2-negative subtype was the most common in both groups: (68.0% in Ethiopian patients and 47.5% in Swedish patients). The HER2-positive (any ER) subtype accounted for 20.5% in Ethiopia and 26.7% in Sweden, while triple-negative breast cancer accounted for 11.5% (Ethiopia) and 25.7% (Sweden).

conclusionsThere were large disparities in stage at diagnosis between Ethiopian and Swedish young women and men with breast cancer, with a higher proportion of late-stage disease seen in Ethiopians although, due to young age/male sex, none of the Swedish cases were diagnosed in the national mammography screening program. There was a high rate of ER-positive breast cancer at both sites, and the triple-negative subtype was more than twice as common in Swedish patients.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsBreast Neoplasms, MaleAdultCross-Sectional StudiesEarly Detection of CancerEthiopiaFemaleHumansMaleMammographyMiddle AgedNeoplasm StagingRetrospective StudiesSwedenYoung AdultEarly-onset breast cancerEast AfricaMale breast cancerSub-Saharan AfricaTumor stageTumor subtype

Identifiers

PMID40717086
PMCPMC12297737

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.