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
Review
. 2018 Mar;21(1):1-10.
doi: 10.4048/jbc.2018.21.1.1. Epub 2018 Mar 23.

Basic Findings Regarding Breast Cancer in Korea in 2015: Data from a Breast Cancer Registry

Sang Yull Kang  1 , Yoo Seok Kim  2 , Zisun Kim  3 , Hyun-Yul Kim  4 , Se Kyung Lee  5 , Kyu-Won Jung  6 , Hyun Jo Youn  1 ; Korean Breast Cancer Society
Affiliations
Review

Basic Findings Regarding Breast Cancer in Korea in 2015: Data from a Breast Cancer Registry

Sang Yull Kang et al. J Breast Cancer. 2018 Mar.

Erratum in

Abstract

The Korean Breast Cancer Society (KBCS) has established a nationwide breast cancer database using an online registration program in 1996. The present study aimed to analyze the basic findings and trends of breast cancer in Korea in 2015 using the data provided by the Korea Central Cancer Registry and the KBCS. In 2015, a total of 22,550 patients were newly diagnosed with breast cancer, of which 3,331 were carcinoma in situ cases and 19,219 were invasive cancer cases. The incidence rate of breast cancer in Korea has steadily increased since the nationwide database was established, and the crude rate and age-standardized rate including that of carcinoma in situ, were 88.1 and 66.0 cases per 100,000 women, respectively. In terms of age, the incidence of breast cancer was the highest in the 40-49-year-old age group (7,889 patients, 35.0%). With regard to surgical procedure, breast-conserving surgery was frequently performed (62.3%). However, the rate of mastectomy has been gradually increasing since 2012, that is, from 32.3% in 2014 to 36.1% in 2015. The rate of early breast cancer has continued to increase, and that of stages III and IV breast cancer was only 9.1% at the time of diagnosis. However, the 5-year survival rate of patients with carcinoma in situ from 2011 to 2015 was 92.3%, which was 14.4% higher than that from 1993 to 1995 (77.9%). Analysis of data from the nationwide registry of breast cancer will not only help to understand the characteristics of breast cancer in individuals in Korea, but will also significantly contribute to the treatment and research of breast cancer. Therefore, a high quality database for breast cancer in Korea must be established by further initiating registration project and establishing an objective legal basis.

Keywords: Breast neoplasms; Epidemiology; Registries.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Number of newly diagnosed Korean female breast cancer patients.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Trends in age-standardized incidence rates of Korean female breast cancer from 2000 to 2015.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Trends in the median age at breast cancer diagnosis in Korea and the ratio of postmenopausal to premenopausal women at diagnosis.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Trends in age distribution pattern of Korean female breast cancer from 2000 to 2015.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Changes in the hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.
ER=estrogen receptor; PR=progesterone receptor.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Changes in the stage distribution of Korean breast cancer.
Figure 7
Figure 7. Changes in the surgical management of breast cancer.
BCS=breast-conserving surgery.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Ervik M, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, et al. GLOBOCAN 2012 v1.0, cancer incidence and mortality worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 11. International Agency for Research on Cancer; [Accessed February 13th, 2018]. http://globocan.iarc.fr.
    1. National Cancer Information Center; Ministry of Health and Welfare. Cancer statistics. [Accessed February 13th, 2018]. https://www.cancer.go.kr/
    1. Lee KS, Chang HS, Lee SM, Park EC. Economic burden of cancer in Korea during 2000-2010. Cancer Res Treat. 2015;47:387–398. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shin HR, Won YJ, Jung KW, Kong HJ, Yim SH, Lee JK, et al. Nationwide cancer incidence in Korea, 1999~2001: first result using the national cancer incidence database. Cancer Res Treat. 2005;37:325–331. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fay MP, Tiwari RC, Feuer EJ, Zou Z. Estimating average annual percent change for disease rates without assuming constant change. Biometrics. 2006;62:847–854. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources