title: Disentangling the roles of mammographic screening and HRT in recent breast cancer incidence trends in italy by analyses based on calendar time and time since screening activation.
abstract: The aim of the study was to evaluate the roles of screening activation and hormone replacement therapy discontinuation on the recent declining breast cancer incidence trends in Italy. We analyzed 41,358 invasive female breast cancers incident during 1991-2004 in six Italian population-based cancer registries. Overall and age-specific incidence trends were evaluated using Joinpoint analysis. In addition to calendar years, data were analyzed on a years-since-screening-activation basis. Annual percentage change of standardized rates was computed. There were statistically significant increasing trends for women 40-44 and 45-49 years that did not change after screening activation. On the contrary, for women 50-69 years old and for those 70+ years, the increasing trends flattened around 2 years after screening activation. The prevalence of hormone replacement therapy use in Italy is and was rather low. In conclusion, the recent tendency toward stabilization observed in Italy for female breast cancer incidence rates in women aged 50 years or more follows the introduction of mammographic screening.
authors.affiliation: Registro Tumori Toscano, Unità di Epidemiologia Clinica e Descrittiva, ISPO, Firenze, Italy. e.crocetti@ispo.toscana.it
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Crocetti
authors.forename: Carlotta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buzzoni
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Falcini
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cortesi
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: De Lisi
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ferretti
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tumino
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paci
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008327:Mammography; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors