J Breast Cancer.  2012 Dec;15(4):393-400. 10.4048/jbc.2012.15.4.393.

Changing Patterns in the Clinical Characteristics of Korean Breast Cancer from 1996-2010 Using an Online Nationwide Breast Cancer Database

• Ko BS
• Noh WC
• Kang SS
• Park BW
• Kang EY
• Paik NS
• Yang JH
• Ahn SH
• Korean Breast Cancer Society

• KMID: 2286435
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4048/jbc.2012.15.4.393

Abstract

PURPOSE
Breast cancer is one of the most frequent malignancies in Korean women, and its incidence is increasing at a rapid rate. Since 1996, the Korean Breast Cancer Society has collected nationwide breast cancer data using an online registration program and analyzed the data biennial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of Korean breast cancer and to analyze changes in these characteristics over the period of time.
METHODS
Data were collected from 41 medical schools (74 hospitals), 24 general hospitals, and 6 private clinics. Data on the total number, gender, and age of newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients were collected through a questionnaire. Additional data were collected and analyzed from the online database.
RESULTS
In 2010, 16,398 patients in Korea were newly diagnosed with breast cancer. The crude incidence rate of female breast cancer was 67.2 cases per 100,000, and the median age at diagnosis was 49 years. The incidence of breast cancer was highest in patients aged between 40 and 49 years. Since 1996, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of early-stage cancers (detected in stage 1 or 2), the percentage of estrogen receptor-positive cancers, and in the proportion of patients receiving breast-conserving surgery.
CONCLUSION
The incidence and clinical characteristics of Korean breast cancer are slowly changing to the patterns of Western countries. To understand changing patterns in the characteristics of Korean breast cancer, the nationwide data should be continuously analyzed.

Keyword

Breast neoplasms; Korea; Online registration program

MeSH Terms

Aged
Breast
Breast Neoplasms
Estrogens
Female
Hospitals, General
Humans
Incidence
Korea
Schools, Medical
Surveys and Questionnaires
Estrogens

Figure

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  Figure 1 Number of newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients according to the Korean Breast Cancer Society survey.

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  Figure 2 Annual crude incidence of Korean female breast cancer. *Patients number per 100,000 women.

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  Figure 3 Age-specific crude incidence of Korean female breast cancer. *New diagnoses number per 100,000 women.

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  Figure 4 Trends in the median age of Korean breast cancer patients and in the ratio of postmenopausal to premenopausal women at the time of diagnosis.

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  Figure 5 Breast cancer in Korean women by stage, according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer classification system (6th edition).

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  Figure 6 Surgical trends in Korean breast cancer patients. BCO=breast-conserving operation.

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  Figure 7 The proportion of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer in Korea.

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  Figure 8 Comparison of age-specific crude incidence rates. *New breast cancer cases per 100,000 women: based on †cancer statistics in Japan (2007); ‡SEER 18 data (2005-2009).

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