Breast cancer incidence and mortality in Tyrol/Austria after fifteen years of opportunistic mammography screening.

Wolfgang Buchberger,Willi Oberaigner,Thomas Frede,Uwe Siebert,Rudolf Knapp,Christian Marth

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-86

Abstract

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to analyse breast cancer incidence and mortality in Tyrol from 1970 to 2006, namely after performing more than a decade of opportunistic mammography screening and just before piloting an organised screening programme. Our investigation was conducted on a population level.MethodsTo study time trends in breast cancer incidence and mortality, we applied the age-period-cohort model by Poisson regression to the official mortality data covering more than three decades from 1970 to 2006 and to the incidence data ranging from 1988 to 2006. In addition, for incidence data we analysed data on breast cancer staging and compared these with EU guidelines.ResultsFor the analysis of time trend in breast cancer mortality in age groups 40-79, an age-period-cohort model fits well and shows for years 2002-2006 a statistically significant reduction of 26% (95% CI 13%-36%) in breast cancer mortality as compared to 1992-1996.We see only slight non-significant increases in breast cancer incidence. For the past five years, incidence data show a 10% proportion of in situ cases, and of 50% for cases in stages II+.ConclusionsThe opportunistic breast cancer screening programme in Tyrol has only in part exploited the mortality reduction known for organised screening programmes. There seems to be potential for further improvement, and we recommend that an organised screening programme and a detailed screening database be introduced to collect all information needed to analyse the quality indicators suggested by the EU guidelines.

Highlights

The aim of this study was to analyse breast cancer incidence and mortality in Tyrol from 1970 to 2006, namely after performing more than a decade of opportunistic mammography screening and just before piloting an organised screening programme
In Austria spontaneous mammography screening is offered in the framework of general health exams done by general practitioners and of gynaecologic exams performed by gynaecologists in private practice
Our results indicate a significant decrease in Breast cancer (BC) mortality over the past five years, a nonsignificant slight increase in incidence and a stage shift towards early stages over the past fifteen years with some proportions in the range of the accepted levels given by EU guidelines

Summary

Introduction

The aim of this study was to analyse breast cancer incidence and mortality in Tyrol from 1970 to 2006, namely after performing more than a decade of opportunistic mammography screening and just before piloting an organised screening programme. For several years already, organised mammography screening programmes have been recommended in the EU[2]. In Austria spontaneous mammography screening is offered in the framework of general health exams done by general practitioners and of gynaecologic exams performed by gynaecologists in private practice. In a one-year pilot phase, the methods were tested in two counties of Tyrol and in June 2008 the programme was extended to the whole state of Tyrol.

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