Screening for Breast Cancer in Iran: A Challenge for Health Policy Makers

Trends in Epidemiology, Clinical and Histopathological Characteristics of Breast Cancer in Iran: Results of a 17 Year Study

“…BC is the top cancer in women worldwide and is increasing specially in developing countries, where most of cases are diagnosed in late stages (Agarwal et al, 2007;Mousavi et al, 2008), a finding that is indicated in the current study, as well. Rate of increasing BC in developing countries is reported as 3-4% (Parkin et al, 2001).…”

“…This might explain why mammography is a less accurate screening tool for our patients; considering the fact that higher breast density in younger age groups reduces mammography sensitivity and detection of microcalcifications (Foxcroft et al, 2004). Due to lack of enough evidences supporting effectiveness of mammography screening for women 40-49 years (Medical Advisory Secretariat., 2007), simple, realistic, particular, efficient and evidence based screening programs that correspond well with the pattern of BC in Iran should be established as a crucial part of our future strategies to reverse the increasing trend of disease (Mousavi et al, 2008;Porter., 2009). Our study therefore provides some complementary information on the age distribution, stage and nature of BC in a developing country that might help health care systems and physicians reorganize and implement strategies to improve preventive and therapeutic approaches to lower the burden of BC in these countries.…”

“…The incidence of BC among young Asian women is moderate but is increasing and may be more than two fold higher than western countries (Agarwal et al, 2007;Karihtala et al, 2010). Previous studies showed that BC has become the most 6906 on the recent changes in age distribution for primary and secondary prevention of BC (Mousavi et al, 2008;Harirchi et al, 2010). Aging is considered as one of the main risk factors for developing new BC events (Gennari et al, 2004;Molino et al, 2006;Benz, 2008).…”

Incidence of primary breast cancer in Iran: Ten-year national cancer registry data report

“…A higher incidence of breast cancer is seen in Iranian men, which merits further assessment and research. Although efforts have been made to initiate and improve a breast cancer screening program controlled and organized by the Ministry of Health [35], the results of the cancer registry shows that the screening programs are not yet effective in the early detection of the cases. The national cancer registry of Iran faces major limitations in the data collection and registering process of breast cancer.…”

Survival Analysing of the Breast Cancer Patients Using Cure Model

“…This may be due to young population structure of the I.R. Iran and also lower age at the first pregnancy (average of 28 years) (25).…”