Breast Thermography
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Breast Cancer In Malaysia

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in most parts of the world. There is a marked geographical variation in incidence rate. The incidence is highest in North Europe and North America , intermediate in the Mediterranean countries and South America and lowest in Asia and Africa . The mean age at diagnosis reported in most developing countries is around 50 years compared to 60 years in Western countries. 

In 2000, there were 1,050,346 cases reported with 372,969 deaths from breast cancer world-wide. The incidence ranged from an average of 95 per 100,000 in more developed countries to 20 per 100,000 in less developed countries. The numbers may be higher because there is lack of comprehensive disease registries in many countries, including Malaysia . 

These variations have been attributed to variations in body size, diet, reproductive characteristics such as age of menarche (first period in females), parity (number of children), age at first childbirth, and age at menopause. The incidence rates also vary with race, being higher in white women compared to black, Hispanic or Asian-American in the United States of America (USA). 

The incidence (number of new cancers) is steadily increasing.  The statistics are more frightening in countries like the USA where about 184,000 new cases of breast cancer are detected annually. The National Cancer Institute estimates that by age 50, one out of every 50 women will develop breast cancer. By age 80, it will rise to one in 10. If this risk is calculated over their lifetime, one in 8 women will suffer from breast cancer. One in 28 will die of the disease.  One in 3000 women develop breast cancer during pregnancy and pregnant women tend to develop them usually in their 30s. (Only 2% of breast cancers are diagnosed in pregnant women.) 

Presented in another way: 

      Every 3 minutes, one woman is diagnosed with breast cancer ( USA )

      Every 11 minutes, one woman dies from breast cancer( USA )

      Every year, 30,000 women and 200 men are diagnosed with breast cancer ( UK )

  
Vital Statistics

Breast cancer was the commonest overall cancer as well as the commonest cancer in women amongst all races from the age of 20 years in Malaysia for 2002.

Breast cancer formed 30.4% of newly diagnosed cancer cases in women in 2002.

The Age Standardised Rate (ASR) of female breast cancer is 52.8 per 100,000 population. Amongst the Chinese, it is higher at 70.1 per 100,000 population, for the Indians, the ASR is 61.7 per 100,000 and it is lowest in the Malays at 41.9 per 100,000 population.

A woman in Malaysia has a 1 in 19 chance of getting breast cancer in her lifetime.

Out of 100 Malaysian women who have cancer, 30 will be breast cancer patients.

The cumulative life time risk of developing breast cancer for Chinese women, Indian women and Malay women were 1 in 14, 1 in 15 and 1 in 24 respectively.

The Age Standardised Incidence (ASR) in Malaysia is higher than Singapore , Hong Kong and Shanghai . It is lower than South Australia (68.5), and UK , England & Wales (68.8).

Of the 4337 new cases of female breast cancer reported to the NCR in 2002, 52.3% were below the age of 50 years.

In contrast, there were only 56 cases of male breast cancer reported in the same period. The ASR of male breast cancer is only about 0.7 per 100,000 population in Malaysia.

 

Source: National Cancer Registry Report 2002

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