India faces a potential breast cancer epidemic over the next decade as women adopt Western lifestyles by marrying and bearing children later in life, oncology experts say.
With women nursing fewer children and weaning them earlier, altering hormone flows and putting them at higher risk of contracting breast cancer, oncologist Umberto Veronesi told delegates to an Apr. 11–12, 2008, conference held in Gurgaon (near Delhi) and sponsored by the Indian Breast Cancer Initiative and The Artemis Health Institute.
Veronesi, scientific director of the European Institute of Oncology and a pioneer in breast conservation surgery, urged the Indian government to aggressively adopt early detection strategies, including the purchase of mammography machines for hospitals and health care facilities.
Studies indicate that as India becomes Westernized, the incidence rate for breast cancer increases. A 2005 study conducted by the International Association of Cancer Research, based in Lyon, France, projected that there would be 250 000 cases of breast cancer in India by 2015, a 3% increase per year. Currently, India reports roughly 100 000 new cases annually.
There are also significant regional variations in incidence rates. The overall rate is now estimated at 80 new cases per 100 000 population per year. But in Delhi, that rate is pegged at 146 per 100 000. By contrast, the national rate was 23.5 in 1990 (Current Science 2001;81:465-74).
“Breast cancer is increasing in India with such a pace that we may face a serious burden of this disease in coming years,” says Diptendra Sarkar, assistant professor of Surgery at the Kolkata-based Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research. “Thanks to the lifestyle changes in common people and lack of a system to properly facilitate mass-awareness and an early diagnosis and treatment facility in various regions, the incidence of breast cancer is getting increased in India.” — Sanjit Bagchi, Kolkata, India