Risk Factors Affecting Survival Time of Breast Cancer Patients: The Case of Southwest Ethiopia

Background: Breast cancer is one of the non-communicable diseases and the main origin of theloss of life in the world. In Ethiopia, breast cancer is the second common cancer health problem forwomen. The main objective of this study was to identify the potential risk factors affecting thesurvival time of breast cancer patients in Southwest Ethiopia.Study design: A retrospective study design.Methods: The data were taken from the patients’ medical records that registered from January ۱,۲۰۱۵, to January ۳۱, ۲۰۲۰. A retrospective study design was used in this study. Different sharedfrailty survival models were employed to analyze the dataset.Results: Out of ۶۴۲ recorded breast cancer patients, ۴۴۷(۶۹.۶%) cases died during the studyperiod, and ۱۹۵ (۳۰.۴%) patients lost follow-up for unknown reasons. The median time to death forbreast cancer patients was ۱۰ months, and hospitals were used as a cluster effect. The resultrevealed that women with no smoking habit had about ۳.۳۵ times higher survival time than patientswho had a smoking habit, and as breast cancer patients age increased, the survival time decreasedby ۰.۹۹. Moreover, breast cancer patients in rural areas had about ۰.۱۴ times lower survival time,compared to breast cancer patients who were urban residents.Conclusions: Age, place of residence, treatment taken, stage, histologic grade, tumor size, oralcontraceptives, and smoking habits led to a shorter survival time. To reduce the burden of breastcancer, awareness should be given to the community.