Age <40 years is an independent prognostic factor predicting inferior overall survival in patients treated with breast conservative therapy

To evaluate the effect of age at diagnosis on the treatment outcome after breast conservative therapy (BCT), retrospective analysis was done for 378 patients undergoing BCT for early breast cancer. Patients were divided into two groups according to their age: 'younger' (<40 years, n = 108) and 'older' (≥40 years, n = 270). Multivariate analysis was performed on the variables including tumor characteristics, the use of systemic therapy, and age to assess risk factors for local-regional relapse-free survival (LRRFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and overall survival rates (OS). The median follow-up duration was 94 months. The 8-year LRRFS, DMFS, and OS for younger and older groups were 88.1% and 96.5% (p = 0.0022); 85.7% and 93.7% (p = 0.0310); 89.2% and 95.9% (p = 0.0205), respectively. On multivariate analysis, younger age was the only significant predictor of poor LRRFS (p = 0.0022). Younger age and ER negativity showed borderline significance for DMFS (p = 0.0828 and 0.0618, respectively). Younger age had trend toward inferior OS (p = 0.0702). In conclusion, age younger than 40 years was associated with inferior LRRFS in early breast cancer patients treated with BCT. There was also a trend for inferior DMFS and OS in younger patients. Age at diagnosis should be considered for individualized patient management.