The decline in breast cancer mortality has been one of public health’s major success stories. But when you look at it from a global perspective, it’s the best of times and the worst of times.
That’s because success in fighting breast cancer has been uneven around the world. While countries in North America, Western Europe, and Oceania have seen dramatic declines in breast cancer mortality and advanced-stage disease, other regions continue to be plagued by what really is becoming a survivable disease for most women.
A new study in JAMA Oncology points out these disparities, documenting major differences in rates of advanced breast disease between countries in what researchers said was the most comprehensive review to date of global differences in breast cancer stage at diagnosis.
- Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 133 studies covering 2.4M women across 81 nations over the past two decades, documenting differences in rates of advanced breast disease at diagnosis both over time and between countries.
While most high-income nations have seen declines in rates of distant metastatic disease over the past 20 years, advanced-stage disease remains stubbornly common in lower middle-income countries. Researchers found:
- Rates of distant metastatic disease varied across countries by region, with sub-Saharan Africa the highest and North America the lowest (6-31% vs. 0-6%)
- Lower socioeconomic status was tied to more advanced disease when women in the most disadvantaged group were compared to least disadvantaged (3-11% vs. 2-8%)
- There were pronounced disparities even in high-resource countries with established screening programs, as rates of metastatic disease were twice as high in women of low socioeconomic status (SES) compared to high SES women, such as in the US (8% vs. 4%)
- Older women had a much higher prevalence of advanced disease across different countries compared to younger women (range of 4-34% vs. 2-16%), a phenomenon that could be because most screening programs stop at age 75
- 40% of countries did not meet the Global Breast Cancer Initiative goal of having 60% or more of patients diagnosed at stage I or II
The Takeaway
The new findings indicate that it’s too soon to take a victory lap in the battle against breast cancer. While progress at higher socioeconomic levels in high-income countries has been impressive, breast cancer remains a scourge among more disadvantaged women and across wide regions of the world.
