Regional patterns and time trends in breast cancer mortality among women in China.

Abstract

e12016 Background: Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in China. There is limited information available from large population-based cancer registries to describe the variability in breast cancer mortality in women by region and over time. Methods: The number of deaths and number of women at risk were obtained from the Third National Mortality Retrospective Sampling Survey (2004-2005). A total of 69 690 241 person-years (py) were accumulated in this study. The time trends in mortality during 1973 to 2005 were assessed using data from this survey as well as two previous surveys known as the First Survey in 1973-1975 and the Second Survey in 1990-1992. These surveys are broadly considered representative of the population in China. Results: The crude mortality rate among female breast cancer patients in China in 2004-2005 was 5.90 per 100 000 py (4112/69 690 241). This ranked the sixth most common cancer death in women, and accounted for 5.90% (4112/69 667) of all female cancer deaths. The crude mortality rates among female breast cancer patients were 6.86/100 000 py (1777/25 900 856) in Eastern China, 5.91/100 000 py (1431/24 225 738) in Central China and 4.62/100 000 py (904/19 563 647) in Western China. The age-standardized mortality rate in urban areas (4.91/100 000 py, 1899 deaths) was 1.44 fold higher than that in rural areas (3.42/100 000 py, 2213 deaths). The crude mortality doubled from 2.95/100 000 py in 1973-1975. The age-standardized mortality rate increased from 1.09/100 000 py in 1973-1975 to 3.97/100 000 py in 2004-2005. Conclusions: The mortality rate of female breast cancer in urban areas was higher than in rural areas. The mortality rate was highest in the Eastern region of China, followed by the Central then the Western regions. Breast cancer mortality in women increased substantially in China between 1973 & 2005.