Abstract 315P
Background
Breast is the commonest site of cancer in females worldwide, contributing to 25.4% of the newly diagnoses cases in 2018. It is the second most common cause of death in cancers following lungs. Past two decades has seen advancements in screening technologies and guidelines, as well as new modalities for treatment. Few studies have reported on breast cancer trends in the 21st century. Our study reports and compares trends in breast cancer mortality in the European Union (EU) and UK.
Methods
We utilized the World Health Organization (WHO) Mortality Database. We extracted Breast Cancer mortality data from 2001 to 2017 based on ICD 10 system. Crude mortality rates were dichotomized by sex and reported by year. We computed Age Standardized Death Rates (ASDRs) per 100,000 population using the World Standard Population. Breast cancer mortality trends were compared using Joinpoint regression analysis.
Results
We analyzed a data from a total of 24 EU including UK, of which 5 countries had data till 2017, 12 till 2016, 6 till 2015 and 1 till 2014. We observed that mortality in females was down-trending in all countries except Croatia, France and Poland. Amongst all the nations, most recently (2016) Croatia had the highest ASDRs (19.29/100,000), whereas the lowest ASDR was found in Spain (12.8/100,000). Highest Estimated Annual Percentage Change (EAPC) in female breast mortality was found in Estonia (-9.3%). Denmark showed the highest change in ASDR (28.02% in 2000 vs. 16.70% in 2015). We observed that breast cancer mortality in males decreased in 18 countries. Amongst all the nations, most recently (2016) Sweden had the highest male breast cancer mortality (13.2/100,000) whereas Denmark had the highest EAPC (-27.5%).
Conclusions
For the study period, we observed expected decrease in breast cancer mortality in females. Decreasing mortality was also found in males in majority of the countries. There was substantial variation between nations although steady decline has been observed in most of the EU nations.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.