Fateme Homaei Shandiz - Department of Oncology Radiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Omid and Qaem Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Mahdi Rivandi - Department of Modern Sciences & Technologies, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Shadab Hadad Nejad - Student Research Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Mahsa Zamanzadeh - Student Research Committee, Faculty of Para Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran;

Introduction: Breast cancer, the most common cancer among women has various risk factors, which may differ amongst populations. Epidemiological studies have shown that early menarche increases women s risk of developing breast cancer. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between age at menarche and stage, recurrence and tumour size in breast cancer patients in Northeastern Iran. Methods: We extracted initial data including age, gender, age at menarche, stage, recurrence and tumour size from the medical record data of breast cancer patients who visited an oncologic clinic in Mashhad during 4years. Analytical analysis were conducted using SPSS version 21. Results:409 patients with average age of 46.2 ± 11.1 and median of 45 years were evaluated. According to menarche age, patients were divided into 3 groups (less than 11 years old, between 11 to 14 and more than 14 years old). There was no significant correlation between menarche age and stage (p = 0.106, Correlation Coefficient = 0.08). The distribution of menarche age was the same across categories of stage (p = 0.114). No statistically significant difference was found between menarche age and recurrence (p = 0.77). The Correlation test did not show any significant differences between menarche age and tumour size in breast cancer patients. Conclusions: Previous researches have found that young age at menarche increases breast cancer risk. Our study demonstrated there are no significant relationship between menarche age and histopathological characterisation (stage, tumour size) and recurrence in our population.

menarche age, breast cancer, histopathological characterisation, recurrence