Population-based observational cohort study of breast cancer mortality in women in England, 1993-2015

A population-based observational cohort study of 512,447 women in England with a diagnosis early invasive breast cancer from 1993 to 2015 found that the crude annual breast cancer mortality rate was highest during the five years after diagnosis. For any give time since diagnosis, crude annual breast cancer mortality rates and risks decreased with increasing calendar period. Crude five year breast cancer mortality risk was 14.4% for women with a diagnosis made during 1993-99 and 4.9% for women with a diagnosis made during 2010-2015. Among women with a diagnosis made during 2010-2015 the cumulative breast cancer mortality risk varied substantially between women with different characteristics: it was smaller than 3% for 62.8% of women but greater than 20% for 4.6% of women (visual abstract).