Risk in the Western world

Breast cancer numbers have been steadily increasing since the middle of the XX century, revealing that this is a disease of modern times. However, its effects on different countries are not the same.

There are important geographic variations, especially between developed and developing countries. The increase in the numbers of affected women is much steeper in places with a so-called “western” lifestyle. 

Countries in the north and western Europe – Ireland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium and France, among others – and also Australia, New Zealand and the US, show incidence rates higher than 69 new cancer cases/100,000 inhabitants per year.

On the other hand, Asian countries with traditional lifestyle – India, Nepal and Cambodia, among others - have much lower rates: fewer than  26 new cancer cases/100,000 inhabitants per year.

Incidence rate - number of new cases in a population at risk, in a given time period.

This is a remarkable difference, and one that indicates a connection between the disease and a Western lifestyle. Incidence rate in the West can be as much as 5 times higher than in their non-westernized counterparts, and is still rising. 

However, the problem is not new, and developed countries have been heavily investing in prevention, detection and treatment of breast cancer to stop the consequent mortality. 

The levels of estrogen during a woman’s life influence her breast cancer risk.