No evidence that breast cancer occurs at higher rates among young Arab women.

Alkhalawi, Eman; Altoukhi, Huda

Background: Breast cancer is often thought to occur at a younger age among Arab women based on the mean or median age at diagnosis, or the proportion of women diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age. Objective: To compare age-specific breast cancer incidence rates among women from selected Arab countries with selected high- and middle-income countries. Methods: We examined population-based, age-specific, national or regional breast cancer incidence data for 2008-2012 and 2013-2017 from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States of America, and compared them with data from Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Results: Breast cancer incidence among young women in the selected Arab countries was comparable to, or even lower than, the selected high- and middle-income countries. In contrast to the continued increase in rates observed in the high- and middle-income countries, the rates tended to plateau or decrease among older Arab women. Age-standardized incidence rates were lower than crude rates in the Arab countries. Conclusion: We found no evidence that Arab women are at higher risk of developing breast cancer at a younger age. The high number of cases among them was probably due to the younger population structure. These findings are important for refining breast cancer screening policies in the region.

AUSTRALIA; CANADA; MOROCCO; QATAR; ALGERIA; GERMANY; UNITED States; BAHRAIN; UNITED Kingdom; JAPAN; BRAZIL; JORDAN; KUWAIT; SAUDI Arabia; BREAST tumor risk factors; MIDDLE-income countries; RISK assessment; BREAST tumors; DEVELOPED countries; EARLY detection of cancer; HEALTH policy; PSYCHOLOGY of women; AGE distribution; COMPARATIVE studies; LOW-income countries

Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 2024, Vol 30, Issue 12, p812

1020-3397

Academic Journal

10.26719/2024.30.12.812