Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Aug 11:341:c3620.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.c3620.

Disparities in breast cancer mortality trends between 30 European countries: retrospective trend analysis of WHO mortality database

Philippe Autier  1 , Mathieu Boniol, Carlo La Vecchia, Lars Vatten, Anna Gavin, Clarisse Héry, Mary Heanue
Affiliations

Disparities in breast cancer mortality trends between 30 European countries: retrospective trend analysis of WHO mortality database

Philippe Autier et al. BMJ. .

Erratum in

  • BMJ. 2010;341:c4480. LaVecchia, Carlo [corrected to La Vecchia, Carlo].

Abstract

Objective: To examine changes in temporal trends in breast cancer mortality in women living in 30 European countries.

Design: Retrospective trend analysis. Data source WHO mortality database on causes of deaths Subjects reviewed Female deaths from breast cancer from 1989 to 2006

Main outcome measures: Changes in breast cancer mortality for all women and by age group (<50, 50-69, and >or=70 years) calculated from linear regressions of log transformed, age adjusted death rates. Joinpoint analysis was used to identify the year when trends in all age mortality began to change.

Results: From 1989 to 2006, there was a median reduction in breast cancer mortality of 19%, ranging from a 45% reduction in Iceland to a 17% increase in Romania. Breast cancer mortality decreased by >or=20% in 15 countries, and the reduction tended to be greater in countries with higher mortality in 1987-9. England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland had the second, third, and fourth largest decreases of 35%, 29%, and 30%, respectively. In France, Finland, and Sweden, mortality decreased by 11%, 12%, and 16%, respectively. In central European countries mortality did not decline or even increased during the period. Downward mortality trends usually started between 1988 and 1996, and the persistent reduction from 1999 to 2006 indicates that these trends may continue. The median changes in the age groups were -37% (range -76% to -14%) in women aged <50, -21% (-40% to 14%) in 50-69 year olds, and -2% (-42% to 80%) in >or=70 year olds.

Conclusions: Changes in breast cancer mortality after 1988 varied widely between European countries, and the UK is among the countries with the largest reductions. Women aged <50 years showed the greatest reductions in mortality, also in countries where screening at that age is uncommon. The increasing mortality in some central European countries reflects avoidable mortality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form and declare no financial or non-financial interests that may be relevant to the submitted work.

Figures

None
Fig 1 Temporal trends in breast cancer mortality in European countries. Countries have been grouped in graphs according to percentage change in mortality from 1989 to 2006. (Five-year smoothing was applied on Iceland and Luxembourg rates to avoid unstable trends because of small population size)
None
Fig 2 Percentage changes in breast cancer mortality in European countries during 1989-2006 according to the mean breast cancer mortality in 1987-9
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Hermon C, Beral V. Breast cancer mortality rates are levelling off or beginning to decline in many western countries: analysis of time-trends, age-cohort and age-period models of breast cancer mortality in 20 countries. Br J Cancer 1996;73:955-60. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Levi F, Bosetti C, Lucchini F, Negri E, La Vecchia C. Monitoring the decrease in breast cancer mortality in Europe. Eur J Cancer Prev 2005;14:497-502. - PubMed
    1. European Commission. Cancer screening in the European Union. Report on the implementation of the council recommendation on cancer screening. First report. 2008. http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_determinants/genetics/documents/cancer_scr....
    1. Coebergh JW, Albreth T. Should the EU also wage war against cancer? And if so, how? Eur J Cancer 2008;44:1341-4. - PubMed
    1. Micheli A, Coebergh JW, Mugno E, Massimiliani E, Sant M, Oberaigner W, et al. European health systems and cancer care. Ann Oncol 2003;14 (suppl 5):v41-60. - PubMed

Publication types