Table 1 Descriptive characteristics at entry of 21 213 women with breast cancer diagnosed in 1994–2006, Denmark, by vital-status of the partner at exit

From: Loss of partner and breast cancer prognosis — a population-based study, Denmark, 1994–2010

 

Partner's death before diagnosis ( n =762), No. (%)

Partner's death after diagnosis ( n =2259), No. (%)

Partner alive at exit ( n =18 192), No. (%)

Sociodemographic characteristics

 Age at time of diagnosis (years)

30–39

2 (1)

25 (1)

1266 (7)

40–49

40 (5)

219 (10)

4640 (26)

50–59

154 (20)

670 (30)

6926 (38)

60–69

385 (51)

1061 (47)

4501 (25)

⩾70

181 (24)

284 (13)

859 (5)

Mean/median

64/65

60/61

54/54

 Level of educationa

   

Basic or high school

440 (58)

1204 (53)

7127 (39)

Vocational education

227 (30)

703 (31)

6551 (36)

Higher education

95 (12)

352 (16)

4514 (25)

 Disposable incomeb

Lowest (1st quartile)

340 (45)

536 (24)

2489 (14)

Middle (2nd–3rd quartile)

308 (40)

1107 (49)

8468 (47)

Highest (4th quartile)

114 (15)

616 (27)

7235 (40)

Medical characteristics

 Tumour size (mm)

0–10

98 (13)

415 (18)

2851 (16)

11–20

297 (39)

963 (43)

7352 (40)

21–50

311 (41)

780 (35)

6560 (36)

⩾51

22 (3)

53 (2)

737 (4)

Unknown

34 (4)

48 (2)

692 (4)

 No. of positive lymph nodes

0

393 (52)

1323 (59)

8979 (49)

1–3

204 (27)

644 (29)

5380 (30)

⩾4

140 (18)

274 (12)

3434 (19)

Unknown

25 (3)

18 (1)

399 (2)

 Malignancy grade

Grade I

186 (24)

660 (29)

4197 (23)

Grade II

261 (34)

738 (33)

6248 (34)

Grade III

130 (17)

321 (14)

3795 (21)

Grade IV

49 (6)

85 (4)

861 (5)

Unknown

136 (18)

455 (20)

3091 (17)

 ER and PR Statusc

Negative

129 (17)

380 (17)

3882 (21)

Positive

588 (77)

1733 (77)

13 254 (73)

Unknown

45 (6)

146 (6)

1056 (6)

 Period of diagnosis

1994–1996

49 (6)

608 (27)

3100 (17)

1997–1999

134 (18)

557 (25)

3792 (21)

2000–2002

217 (28)

580 (26)

4527 (25)

2003–2006

362 (48)

514 (23)

6773 (37)

 Charlson comorbidity indexd

0

603 (79)

1976 (87)

16 334 (90)

1

100 (13)

176 (8)

1201 (7)

⩾2

59 (8)

107 (5)

657 (4)

  1. aHighest-education attained 2 years before diagnosis: basic school/high school (7–12 years of primary, secondary and grammar school); vocational training (10–12 years of education); higher education (⩾13 years of education).
  2. bDisposable income extracted 2 years before diagnosis; income quartiles calculated according to the entire population in the investigated age group, after taxation and interest per person, adjusted for number of people in the household and deflated according to the 2000 value of the Danish crown, as: deflated household income/(no. of person in household 0.6).
  3. cNegative indicates that individual was estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) negative. Positive indicates ER-positive or PR-positive.
  4. dAccumulated value of all hospital contacts from 1978 to date of diagnosis; scores weighted by level of severity assigned to 19 conditions (excluding cancers) and grouped on the basis of the cumulated sum of scores of 0, 1 and ⩾2.
Back to article page