Iranian Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer a Decade Earlier than British Women?

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent female cancers in developing countries. It seems that breast cancer affects Iranian women a decade earlier than women from developed countries, however, there is not enough evidence for this hypothesis. Methods: This repeated cross-sectional study was carried out on 6057 Iranian women, living in Isfahan province, using historical data from 2001 to 2013 and 506,095 British women in the same period. The UK breast cancer data came from the ONS website (www.ons.gov.uk) on request for the period of 2001 to 2013. The weighted mean age of women with breast cancer was compared between Iran and the UK by the independent t-test using STATA 14 at a 5 significance level. Results: The age-standardized incidence rate (ASR) in Iran (Isfahan) increased from 22.0 to 68.0 per 100,000 populations from 2001 to 2013. The corresponding ASR in the UK increased from 152.4 to 169.8 per 100,000 population. The standardized mean age of breast cancer was 50.5 years (SD=12.6) and 63.6 years (SD=14.0) in Iranian and British women, respectively. Conclusion: These findings imply that Iranian women were, on average, diagnosed with breast cancer a decade earlier than English women. Therefore, screening for breast cancer should begin at lower ages for Iranian women. © 2022, Kerman University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.