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. 2025 May 2;25(1):499-505.
doi: 10.18295/2075-0528.2863. eCollection 2025.

Breast and Ovarian Cancers' Incidence Trends Among Iraqi Women During 2012-2022 and Their Relationship to Fertility Patterns

Jasim Naeem Al-Asadi  1
Affiliations

Breast and Ovarian Cancers' Incidence Trends Among Iraqi Women During 2012-2022 and Their Relationship to Fertility Patterns

Jasim Naeem Al-Asadi. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the incidence trends of female breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) among women in Iraq and their relation to fertility patterns.

Methods: This retrospective study utilised the Iraqi Cancer Registry annual reports for the years 2012-2022 and the World Bank data for Iraqi crude birth rate and total fertility data for the years 1992-2002. Simple linear regression analysis examined the relationship between these variables and incidence rates of BC and OC.

Results: A total of 63,446 women were newly diagnosed with BC from 2012-2022. The overall age standardised incidence rate (ASIR) of BC was 46.68/100,000 females. It increased significantly from 36.61/100,000 in 2012 to 61.89/100,000 in 2022 with an average annual percentage change (AAPC) of 4.83% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.69-7.08; P < 0.001). The overall ASIR rate of OC was 6.22/100,000 women. It increased significantly from 4.35/100,000 in 2012 to 6.90/100,000 in 2022 with an AAPC of 4.58% (95% CI: 2.40-6.88; P < 0.001). The ASIR of BC was negatively and significantly associated with crude birth rate (CBR) and total fertility (TFR) rate (R2 = 0.727; P = 0.001 and R2 = 0.728; P = 0.001, respectively). The ASIR of OC was negatively and significantly associated with CBR and TFR (R2 = 0.699; P = 0.001 and R2 = 0.696; P = 0.001, respectively).

Conclusions: Iraqi women are experiencing a rising incidence of breast and ovarian cancers over time. Lower fertility rates may partly play a role in this trend. Research and initiatives are necessary to identify and control the factors that are increasing this risk.

Keywords: Breast Cancer; Fertility; Incidence; Iraq; Ovarian Cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Age standardised incidence rate of breast cancer in relation to crude birth rate. ASIR = age standardised incidence rate; CBR = crude birth rate.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Age standardised incidence rate of breast cancer in relation to total fertility rate. ASIR = age standardised incidence rate; TFR = total fertility rate.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Age standardized incidence rate of ovarian cancer by crude birth rate. ASIR = age standardised incidence rate; CBR = crude birth rate.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Age standardised incidence rate of ovarian cancer by total fertility rate. ASIR = age standardised incidence rate; TFR = total fertility rate.
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