40 percent more new cases by 2050 - Breast cancer is increasing worldwide - how to reduce your personal risk
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. In Germany, around 74,500 women are diagnosed with the disease every year. A new study has now shown that the number of new cases worldwide will increase by 40 percent by 2050.
Breast cancer in women is becoming more common worldwide. In the next 25 years, the number of new cases is expected to rise by around 40 percent and the number of deaths by around 70 percent. This is the conclusion reached by a research team led by Miranda Fidler-Benaoudia from the University of Calgary (Canada). The experts report on this in the journal "Nature Medicine".
Fidler-Benaoudia and her group analyzed data from 185 countries that provide information on annual breast cancer new cases and deaths. According to the data, 2.3 million women worldwide will be newly diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022 and 670,000 women will have died from it.
The figures were very unevenly distributed: In regions with a lower Human Development Index (HDI), breast cancer mortality was disproportionately high. It reached its maximum in the Republic of Fiji, where one in 24 women died from it. In Africa, a high mortality rate was also recorded, with one breast cancer-related death in every 47 women.
According to the study's results, on average today, one in 20 women is diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime, and around one in 70 dies from it. This makes the tumor disease one of the most frequently diagnosed types of cancer and one of the main causes of cancer-related deaths among women.
In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Global Breast Cancer Initiative (GBCI), which aims to reduce breast cancer mortality by an average of 2.5 percent annually.
According to the data, the number of new cases is increasing in most of the countries studied - especially those with a low HDI. The corresponding deaths are also increasing there. Countries with a high HDI often manage to reduce the number of cases, but only seven countries achieve the WHO target: Malta, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Slovenia.
If current trends continue, the number of new breast cancer cases worldwide is expected to increase by around 40 percent and the number of deaths by around 70 percent by 2050. This corresponds to an estimated number of 3.2 million new cases and 1.1 million deaths in 2050.
Countries with a low HDI will be particularly affected. Fidler-Benaoudia and her team stress that healthcare in these countries must be improved to stop the trend. This includes building more efficient health systems, better early detection and earlier and more effective treatment.
The increasing incidence of breast cancer is due to many factors. For example, more and more people are overweight or not physically active enough - both known risk factors for tumor diseases .
Increased alcohol and tobacco consumption also play a role. Pregnancy and childlessness, older mothers at first birth, not breastfeeding and hormone treatments also contribute to the high number of breast cancer cases.
Every woman can do something to reduce her personal risk. Many risk factors for breast cancer can be actively influenced. The most important sources of danger that you should avoid:
- Drinking alcohol – even the daily consumption of one alcoholic drink increases the risk of breast cancer, it is best to avoid alcohol if possible.
- Smoke
- unhealthy diet with too much animal fat
- Obesity – not only the ovaries, but also the fatty tissue produces estrogens. These additional female sex hormones stimulate the cells of the mammary glands to grow and are therefore associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Therefore, long-term use of
- Hormonal products such as the pill, use of a hormonal coil, but also hormone replacement therapy during the menopause , increase the risk of breast cancer.
- lack of exercise
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