title: Recent trends and patterns in breast cancer incidence among Eastern and Southeastern Asian women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Incidence of breast cancer is rising in Asian countries, and breast cancer is the most common cancer among Asian women. However, there are few recent descriptive reports on the epidemiology of breast cancer among Eastern and Southeastern Asian populations.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined incidence trends for invasive breast cancer in women aged ≥20 years from 15 registries in Eastern (China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan) and Southeastern Asia (the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand) for the period 1993-2002 mainly using data from Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, Volumes VIII and IX. We compared trends in annual incidence rates and age-specific incidence curves over a 10-year period. We also compared the incidence rates of Asian-Americans with the rates of their Asian counterparts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Breast cancer incidence rates increased gradually over time in all study populations. Rates were relatively high in Southeastern Asia and became progressively lower along a south-to-north gradient, with a fourfold geographic variation within the study populations. Age-specific incidence curves showed patterns that gradually changed according to incidence rates. Breast cancer incidence among Asian women living in the United States was 1.5-4 times higher than the corresponding incidence rate in the women's respective countries of origin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Breast cancer incidence is expected to continue to increase for the next 10 years in Asia and may approach rates reported among Asian-Americans. The number and mean age of breast cancer cases is expected to increase as the female Asian population ages, the prevalence of certain risk factors changes (early menarche, late menopause, low parity, late age at first live birth, and low prevalence of breastfeeding), and as Asian countries introduce mass screening programs.
authors.affiliation: International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 Cours Albert Thomas, 69372 Lyon cedex 08, France. shinhr@iarc.fr
authors.forename: Hai-Rim
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Clementine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Joubert
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boniol
authors.forename: Clarisse
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hery
authors.forename: Sei Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Young-Joo
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Won
authors.forename: Yoshikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishino
authors.forename: Tomotaka
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sobue
authors.forename: Chien-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: San-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: You
authors.forename: Maria Rica
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Mirasol-Lumague
authors.forename: Stephen Chun-Key
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Law
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mang
authors.forename: Yong-Bing
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: Kee-Seng
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Chia
authors.forename: Suthee
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rattanamongkolgul
authors.forename: Jian-Guo
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Maria Paula
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Curado
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Autier
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001210:Asia, Southeastern / Q000453:epidemiology; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044466:Asian People; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D010679:Philippines / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology