Younger victims of breast cancer
More than 60 percent of Hong Kong breast cancer patients aged between 40 and 59 were diagnosed before or during menopause.
Queen Mary Hospital chief of breast surgery Ava Kwong said their average age is just over 55, with 35 percent in the 40 to 49 age group and nearly 20 percent aged 50 to 59.
The first population-based study on the epidemiology and pathology of breast cancer in the territory was jointly carried out by the Cancer Registry, Hospital Authority and University of Hong Kong using data of 7,630 patients from 1997 to 2001.
The report noted that locally breast cancer is found mostly among the younger generation before and during menopause, whereas overseas the reverse is the case.
Kwong said further investigations need to be carried out to determine the reason for this.
"Such differences may be related to the lifestyle of patients. Yet, from our survey, we found that smoking and alcohol may not be a cause of breast cancer, though many people believe this is so," she said.
Apart from age, data such as the survival rate of patients - which was not included in previous studies - was also examined.
The results show Hong Kong enjoys a similar survival rate as the United States, with 97.5 percent of patients diagnosed with first stage breast cancer recovering.
The rate falls to just 19.3 percent for those found to be in the fourth stage when diagnosed.
Kwong said this confirms what is universally accepted - the later the diagnosis and treatment, the lower the survival rate.
"We expect the number of relatively younger women contracting breast cancer to continue increasing, and we will soon move into the second phase of our study, which is to look into breast cancer cases from 2002 to 2007."
Generally, Cancer Registry director Stephen Law Chun-key said there had been an increase in the number of patients from 1997 to 2007.
Cancer is the top killer in the SAR, with total cases rising from 12,316 in 1997 to 24,342 in 2007.
Source: http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=102686&sid=29504797&con_type=1
