Some observations on the epidemiology of cancer of the breast in women of Western India

Abstract

Incidence, mortality and relative frequencyCancer of the breast is the second most common site for cancer amongst Indian females, the uterine cervix being the most common site affected (Paymaster, 1964). In comparison with many Western countries, the incidence rate for cancer of the breast in India is quite low, as it is in some of the developing countries of Asia and Africa. The truncated age-adjusted incidence rates for breast cancer as reported in the UlCC publication (UICC, 1970) are presented in Table 1. In Greater Bombay, 11 YO of all deaths from cancer in women were due to cancer of the breast and the crude mortality rate was 4.3 per 100,000 population (Paymaster and Gangadharan 1971).At the Tata Memorial Hospital in Bombay, 7,409 cases of cancer of the breast have been recorded over a period of 30 years, from 1941 to 1970, forming 18% of all cancers in women. During the same period, 39% of all cancers in women were observed in the cervix. The distribution of cancer in the female reproductive organs is presented in Figure 1. Sixty-five per cent of the disease in this group was in the cervix and 30% in the breast. In our series of breast cancer the predominant histological type was the infiltrating duct carcinoma (93%) while colloid carcinoma and the medullary type were observed in 2% of cases each. The data from other cancer hospitals in our country, which have been organized more recently, and also from the large General Hospitals which treat cancer, indicate that cancer of the cervix is the PERCENTAGE

Breast Cancer in India: Where Do We Stand and Where Do We Go?

“…The study supports the hypotheses that increased anthropometric measures are important determinants of breast cancer in India, although they do not appear to contribute appreciably to the urban-rural breast cancer differences (Mathew et al, 2008). A case control study conducted in Mumbai indicated that compared to married women, single women had a 4-5-fold higher risk for developing breast cancer in the age group of 40-54 and above (Paymaster et al, 1972). In another study, nulliparous women had a 2.2-fold higher risk than parous women (Rao et al, 1994).…”

Role of reproductive factors in breast cancer in a low-risk area: a case–control study

“…These findings are consistent with earlier reported studies from high-risk populations. Paymaster and Gangadharan (1972) in a one-to-one matched case-control study on women from western India also showed that factors such as marital status, age at mariage, parity status, age at first delivery and number of pregnancies are associated with the risk of breast cancer.…”

Clinico-morphological patterns of breast cancer including family history in a New Delhi hospital, India-A cross-sectional study

“…Similarly in Trivandrum study, the incidence rates have been reported to be highest among Christians followed by Hindus and Muslims. Paymaster et al [ 14 ], in an analysis of hospital cancer cases by major religious groups have shown the variation in relative frequency between religious groups and in particular, high percentage among Parsi women compared to other religious communities. The reason for high incidence of breast cancer in Parsi community is as a result of their more westernized life-style, conserved genetic pool, high frequency of consanguineous marriages and higher age at the time of marriage and child birth [ 28 ].…”

“…Numerous studies carried out in India and western populations have identified various reproductive factors generally associated with breast cancer [ 9 - 11 , 13 , 29 - 31 ]. A case-control study to identify risk factors for breast cancer carried out in Mumbai, India indicated that single women compared to married women had 4–5 fold higher risk for development of breast cancer in the age group of 40–54 years and 55 and above [ 14 ]. In another study it has been shown that nulliparous women had 2.2-fold higher risk than parous women [ 16 ].…”