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Meta-Analysis
. 2018 Jun;8(1):010419.
doi: 10.7189/jogh.08.010419.

Estimating the incidence of breast cancer in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Davies Adeloye  1   2   3 , Olaperi Y Sowunmi  4 , Wura Jacobs  5 , Rotimi A David  6 , Adeyemi A Adeosun  7 , Ann O Amuta  8 , Sanjay Misra  9 , Muktar Gadanya  10 , Asa Auta  11 , Michael O Harhay  12   13 , Kit Yee Chan  3
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Estimating the incidence of breast cancer in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Davies Adeloye et al. J Glob Health. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is estimated to be the most common cancer worldwide. We sought to assemble publicly available data from Africa to provide estimates of the incidence of breast cancer on the continent.

Methods: A systematic search of Medline, EMBASE, Global Health and African Journals Online (AJOL) was conducted. We included population- or hospital-based registry studies on breast cancer conducted in Africa, and providing estimates of the crude incidence of breast cancer among women. A random effects meta-analysis was employed to determine the pooled incidence of breast cancer across studies.

Results: The literature search returned 4648 records, with 41 studies conducted across 54 study sites in 22 African countries selected. We observed important variations in reported cancer incidence between population- and hospital-based cancer registries. The overall pooled crude incidence of breast cancer from population-based registries was 24.5 per 100 000 person years (95% confidence interval (CI) 20.1-28.9). The incidence in North Africa was higher at 29.3 per 100 000 (95% CI 20.0-38.7) than Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) at 22.4 per 100 000 (95% CI 17.2-28.0). In hospital-based registries, the overall pooled crude incidence rate was estimated at 23.6 per 100 000 (95% CI 18.5-28.7). SSA and Northern Africa had relatively comparable rates at 24.0 per 100 000 (95% CI 17.5-30.4) and 23.2 per 100 000 (95% CI 6.6-39.7), respectively. Across both registries, incidence rates increased considerably between 2000 and 2015.

Conclusions: The available evidence suggests a growing incidence of breast cancer in Africa. The representativeness of these estimates is uncertain due to the paucity of data in several countries and calendar years, as well as inconsistency in data collation and quality across existing cancer registries.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: DA and KYC are members of the editorial board of the Journal of Global Health. Authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author). None of the participating authors has a conflicting financial or other interest related to the work detailed in this manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flowchart of search strategy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of crude incidence rates by registry type and African sub-region.
Figure 3
Figure 3
A. Pooled crude incidence rates of breast cancer in Africa by African region – population-based cancer registries. B. Pooled crude incidence rates of breast cancer in Africa by African region – population-based cancer registries (sensitivity analysis).
Figure 4
Figure 4
A. Pooled crude incidence rates of breast cancer in Africa by African region – hospital-based cancer registries. B. Pooled crude incidence rates of breast cancer in Africa by African region – population-based cancer registries (sensitivity analysis).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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