Female breast cancer incidence and mortality in 2011, China

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in women. During the past 30 years, mortality of breast cancer in Chinese women showing a gradual upward trend, it has become the crucial death reasons of female.

In 2014, there were 234 population-based cancer registries submitting their data of 2011 to the National Central Cancer Registry (NCCR) of China and 177 cancer registries' data were selected after quality evaluation. The selected cancer registries were classified as urban areas and rural areas, in each level. The crude incidence and mortality rates of female breast cancer were calculated by age-groups. Age-standardized rates were described by China and World standard population. And the national population data of China was used to combine with the cancer registries' data to estimate the female breast cancer burden in 2011 in China.

The estimated number of female breast cancer cases was 248,620. The crude incidence rate, age-standardized rate by China and World population were 37.86 per 100,000, 28.51 per 100,000 and 26.65 per 100,000, respectively. The estimated number of female breast cancer death in 2011 of China was about 60,473. The crude, age-standardized mortalities by China population and World population were 9.21 per 100,000, 6.57 per 100,000 and 6.38 per 100,000, respectively. The incidence and mortality rates were both higher in urban areas than rural areas. Trend of age-specific incidence rates in urban and rural was similar, reaching peak at 55-59 years old. The trend of age-specific mortality rates was very similar before 60 between urban and rural areas, but after that, the urban areas curve was rapidly mounting as the age growing and much higher than rural.

Breast cancer is still a major health burden for Chinese women especially in urban areas. Prevention strategies such as weight control, high-quality screening, diagnosis and treatment may help control the disease.