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Breast cancer in Ethiopia: evidence for geographic difference in the distribution of molecular subtypes in Africa

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Women's Health, February 2018
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (80th percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (57th percentile)

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1 blog
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2 X users

Citations

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46 Dimensions

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149 Mendeley
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Title
Breast cancer in Ethiopia: evidence for geographic difference in the distribution of molecular subtypes in Africa
Published in
BMC Women's Health, February 2018
DOI 10.1186/s12905-018-0531-2
Pubmed ID
Authors

Endale Hadgu, Daniel Seifu, Wondemagegnhu Tigneh, Yonas Bokretsion, Abebe Bekele, Markos Abebe, Thomas Sollie, Sofia D. Merajver, Christina Karlsson, Mats G. Karlsson

Abstract

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with several morphological and molecular subtypes. Widely accepted molecular classification system uses assessment of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and proliferation marker Ki67. Few studies have been conducted on the incidence and molecular types of breast cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa. Previous studies mainly from Western and Central Africa, showed breast cancer to occur at younger ages and to present with aggressive features, such as high-grade, advanced stage and triple-negative phenotype (negative for ER, PR and HER2). Limited data from East Africa including Ethiopia however shows hormone receptor negative tumors to account for a lower proportion of all breast cancers than has been reported from elsewhere in Africa. In this study from Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, 114 breast cancer patients diagnosed between 2012 and 2015 were enrolled. ER, PR, Ki67 and HER2 receptor status were assessed using immunohistochemistry from tissue microarrays. FISH was used for assessment of gene amplification in all equivocal tumor samples and for confirmation in HER2-enriched cases. The distribution of molecular subtypes was: Luminal A: 40%; Luminal B: 26%; HER2-enriched: 10%; TNBC: 23%. ER were positive in 65% of all tumors and 43% the cases were positive for PR. There was statistically significant difference in median age at diagnosis between the molecular subtypes (P < 0.05). There was a bimodal distribution of molecular subtypes in different age ranges with Luminal B subtype being more common at younger ages (median = 36) and Luminal A subtype more prevalent at older ages (median = 42). There were no statistically significant differences in tumor grade, histology, and stage between the molecular subtypes of breast cancer. The present study detected Luminal A breast cancer to be the most common subtype and reveals a relatively low rate of hormone receptor negative and TNBC. Our findings and results from other East African studies suggest geographic variability in the distribution of the molecular subtypes of breast cancer in Africa and hence have important clinical and policy implications for breast cancer control and treatment in Ethiopia.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 149 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 149 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 23 15%
Lecturer 14 9%
Student > Bachelor 13 9%
Student > Postgraduate 11 7%
Student > Ph. D. Student 11 7%
Other 28 19%
Unknown 49 33%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 33 22%
Nursing and Health Professions 19 13%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 16 11%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 8 5%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 5 3%
Other 19 13%
Unknown 49 33%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 9. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 February 2018.
All research outputs
#3,712,504
of 23,023,224 outputs
Outputs from BMC Women's Health
#383
of 1,849 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#85,708
of 446,257 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Women's Health
#19
of 45 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,023,224 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 83rd percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,849 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 446,257 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 80% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 45 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 57% of its contemporaries.