Age at Diagnosis of Breast Cancer in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Breast cancer is responsible for up to 25% of all cancers in Iran. The age at diagnosis of Iranian breast cancer patients starts a decade earlier than most of developed countries. This study aimed to evaluate the mean age at diagnosis of Iranian breast cancer patients. Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the mean age at diagnosis of Iranian breast cancer pa-tients and its pattern between 2008 and 2017, were evaluated. All papers with age at diagnosis of histopatholog-ical verified breast cancer patients were considered eligible to enter to the analysis. We used databases including Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, Iranmedex and SID for the search process. The meta-analysis was performed only on studies with separate data for female patients, using random-effects model, Mantel and Haenszel method and the Comprehensive Meta-analysis software. Results: Finally, 92 studies with 19,784 patients (both-genders) were included. The mean age at diagnosis had increased from 47.93 (2008) to 49.91 (2016) years. The meta-analysis was done on 78 studies containing of 15,071 female patients and the mean age at diagnosis was 46.76±1.19. There was a wide range of age at diagno-sis within different provinces. The mean age at Hamadan and Khuzestan provinces were the lowest and high-est, respectively (42.48±7.96 vs. 51.00±11.47). The heterogeneity of studies was statistically significant (I2=99.744). Conclusion: Mean age at diagnosis of Iranian women with breast cancer was 46.76±1.19. There was an in-creasing pattern in mean age of diagnosis at breast cancer patients within the past 10 years.