Breast cancer epidemiology and demographics
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1], Assistant Editor(s)-In-Chief: Jack Khouri
Overview
Worldwide, breast cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer death (after lung cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, and colon cancer).[1] In 2005, breast cancer caused 502,000 deaths (7% of cancer deaths; almost 1% of all deaths) worldwide.[1] Among women worldwide, breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death.[1]
In the United States, breast cancer is the third most common cause of cancer death (after lung cancer and colon cancer). In 2007, breast cancer is expected to cause 40,910 deaths (7% of cancer deaths; almost 2% of all deaths) in the U.S.[2] Among women in the U.S., breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second- most common cause of cancer death (after lung cancer).[2] Women in the U.S. have a 1 in 8 lifetime chance of developing invasive breast cancer and a 1 in 33 chance of breast cancer causing their death.[3] A U.S. study conducted in 2005 by the Society for Women's Health Research indicated that breast cancer remains the most feared disease,[4] even though heart disease is a much more common cause of death among women.[5]
The number of cases has significantly increased since the 1970s, a phenomenon partly blamed on modern lifestyles in the Western world.[6][7] Because the breast is composed of identical tissues in males and females, breast cancer also occurs in males, though it is less common.[8]
Epidemiological risk factors for a disease can provide important clues as to the etiology of a disease. The first work on breast cancer epidemiology was done by Janet Lane-Claypon, who published a comparative study in 1926 of 500 breast cancer cases and 500 control patients of the same background and lifestyle for the British Ministry of Health.[citation needed]
Today, breast cancer, like other forms of cancer, is considered to be the final outcome of multiple environmental and hereditary factors.
- Lesions to DNA such as genetic mutations. Exposure to estrogen has been experimentally linked to the mutations that cause breast cancer.[9] Beyond the contribution of estrogen, research has implicated viral oncogenesis and the contribution of ionizing radiation.
- Failure of immune surveillance, which usually removes malignancies at early phases of their natural history.
- Abnormal growth factor signaling in the interaction between stromal cells and epithelial cells, for example in the angiogenesis necessary to promote new blood vessel growth near new cancers.
- Inherited defects in DNA repair genes, such as BRCA1, BRCA2 and p53.
Although many epidemiological risk factors have been identified, the cause of any individual breast cancer is often unknowable. In other words, epidemiological research informs the patterns of breast cancer incidence across certain populations, but not in a given individual. Approximately 5% of new breast cancers are attributable to hereditary syndromes, while no etiology is known for the other 95% of cases.[10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 World Health Organization (2006). "Fact sheet No. 297: Cancer". Retrieved 2007-04-26. Unknown parameter
|month=ignored (help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 American Cancer Society (2007). "Cancer Facts & Figures 2007" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-04-26.
- ↑ American Cancer Society (2006). "What Are the Key Statistics for Breast Cancer?". Retrieved 2007-04-26. Unknown parameter
|month=ignored (help) - ↑ "Women's Fear of Heart Disease Has Almost Doubled in Three Years, But Breast Cancer Remains Most Feared Disease" (Press release). Society for Women's Health Research. 2005-07-07. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
- ↑ "Leading Causes of Death for American Women 2004" (PDF). National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
- ↑ Laurance, Jeremy (2006-09-29). "Breast cancer cases rise 80% since Seventies". The Independent. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ↑ "Breast Cancer: Statistics on Incidence, Survival, and Screening". Imaginis Corporation. 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-09. External link in
|work=(help) - ↑ "Male Breast Cancer Treatment - National Cancer Institute". National Cancer Institute. 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-16. External link in
|work=(help) - ↑ Cavalieri E, Chakravarti D, Guttenplan J; et al. (2006). "Catechol estrogen quinones as initiators of breast and other human cancers: implications for biomarkers of susceptibility and cancer prevention". Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1766 (1): 63–78. doi:10.1016/j.bbcan.2006.03.001. PMID 16675129.
- ↑ Madigan MP, Ziegler RG, Benichou J, Byrne C, Hoover RN (1995). "Proportion of breast cancer cases in the United States explained by well-established risk factors". J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 87 (22): 1681–5. PMID 7473816.
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- Gynecology
- Types of cancer
- Breast
- Hereditary cancers