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Review
. 2022 Aug 30;14(17):4218.
doi: 10.3390/cancers14174218.

Breast Cancer in Asia: Incidence, Mortality, Early Detection, Mammography Programs, and Risk-Based Screening Initiatives

Yu Xian Lim  1 , Zi Lin Lim  1 , Peh Joo Ho  1   2 , Jingmei Li  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Breast Cancer in Asia: Incidence, Mortality, Early Detection, Mammography Programs, and Risk-Based Screening Initiatives

Yu Xian Lim et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Close to half (45.4%) of the 2.3 million breast cancers (BC) diagnosed in 2020 were from Asia. While the burden of breast cancer has been examined at the level of broad geographic regions, literature on more in-depth coverage of the individual countries and subregions of the Asian continent is lacking. This narrative review examines the breast cancer burden in 47 Asian countries. Breast cancer screening guidelines and risk-based screening initiatives are discussed.

Keywords: Asian breast cancers; mammography screening; risk-based screening.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Variation of breast cancer burden and availability of breast cancer screening resources (mammography units) in Asia by region, country and income level. Age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) of breast cancer, age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) of breast cancer, income group, cumulative risk up to 74 years (%), and number of mammography units per 1 million females aged 50 to 69 years in Asia. GLOBOCAN and income statistics from year 2020. Information on mammography units per million female residents retrieved from World Health Organization (2022). Missing labels denote mammography resource information not available for the respective country. WDI: World Development Index.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Box plots of early-stage breast cancers diagnosed (Stage I only) by income groups and regions in Asia. Source of income level data: World Development Index, 2020. AFG: Afghanistan, CHN: China, IRQ: Iraq, JPN: Japan, KOR: Korea, Republic of, KWT: Kuwait, LBN: Lebanon, LKA: Sri Lanka, MYS: Malaysia, MNG: Mongolia, MMR: Myanmar, OMN: Oman, PAK: Pakistan, PHL: Philippines, QAT: Qatar, SGP: Singapore, SYR: Syrian Arab Republic, THA: Thailand, TUR: Turkey, VNM: Vietnam.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Recommendations of national breast cancer screening programs in Asia. NHSP: National Health Screening Program, NMSP: National Mammography Screening Program, JBCP: Jordan Breast Cancer Program, KNCSP: Korean National Cancer Screening Program, KNMSP: Kuwait National Mammography Screening Program, BCED: Breast Cancer Early Detection, BSS: BreastScreen Singapore, BMSP: Bahcesehir Mammography Screening Project.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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