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Cancer Resources > Cancer News > Cancer News from Reuters > Reuters Cancer News > 2003 > March
Breast cancer diagnosed late in Europe
Richard Woodman
Last Updated: 2003-03-03 10:00:35 -0400 (Reuters Health)
LONDON (Reuters Health) - Women who develop breast cancer in Europe are four times more likely to be diagnosed when the tumour has spread and survival is less likely than are women in the US, according to a report on Monday.
Market consultants, Datamonitor, said there was a widening gap between the number of patients with late-stage breast cancer in Europe's top five countries--Germany, Britain, France, Spain and Italy--compared with the US, where health screening policy is more aggressive.
In the US, more than 1.3 million women with breast cancer had either stage I or stage II disease, the report said. Only 69,000 American women had the more advanced stage III or IV disease.
In sharp contrast, Europe had 800,000 patients with either stage I or stage II disease and 200,000 with stage III or IV.
The report figures indicate that 20% of women with breast cancer in Europe have late-stage disease compared with only with 5% in the US.
"This difference can largely be attributed to an increased emphasis on early diagnosis and early treatment in the US, thereby reducing US patient numbers in the stages III and IV and increasing the chance of patient survival over 5 years," according to the report.
Within Europe, Germany has the highest rate of stage IV disease, followed by France and Italy, Datamonitor cancer analyst, Richard Andrews, told Reuters Health.
He said screening to detect breast cancer early was key to improved survival. "That is why America has the best 5-year survival rates," he added.
At the opposite extreme, he said Germany had only started to introduce an official screening programme in January this year.
The report said that even though Britain initiated breast screening in 1988, the screening in the UK and the rest of Europe had fallen behind rapidly advancing healthcare programmes in the US.
"The US population is highly aware of cancer issues, being well informed from patient advocacy groups and from the popularised Internet. There is great emphasis on breast self-examination for women aged 20 and over, alongside recommendations for breast clinical examinations for women aged 20-40 years, every 3 years, and annually for those aged 40 and over," the report states. "US health authorities also recommend mammography for women aged 40 and over every year."
"This is in sharp contrast to the UK, where women under 50 are not offered routine screening, and screening for 50 years and over occurs every 3 years."
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