Histological and epidemiological features of breast cancer in different religious groups in greater Bombay

In this paper an attempt has been made to study the histologic and epidemiologic features of breast cancer in women from various religious groups of Greater Bombay. The crude and age-adjusted incidence rates are seen to be the highest in the Parsi community followed by the Christian, Moslem, and Hindu groups. In all the religious groups, an increase in incidence of breast cancer is first seen in the third decade. This is followed by a sharp increase up to the age of 50-54, leading to a slight drop, and then a consistent but slower rise in the older ages. The high risk of developing this cancer in Parsi women as compared with the Christian, Moslem, and Hindu experience may be due to a higher proportion of Parsi women remaining unmarried, their higher age at marriage, lower age at first pregnancy, broad spacing of pregnancies, and fewer numbers of pregnancies. The distribution according to histologic types of breast cancer in India is characterized by a high frequency of infiltrating duct carcinoma. Medullary, lobular, and squamous cell carcinoma were typical histological varieties of the older age groups, whereas ductal carcinoma was encountered mostly in premenopausal women.