Breast cancer rates set to double by 2020

THE number of women diagnosed with breast cancer is set to double over the next 13 years with 4,700 new cases annually by 2020, experts said yesterday.

Ireland’s growing population, increasing numbers of older people and unhealthy lifestyles are all expected to be contributing factors.

Today at Croke Park the Irish Cancer Society is staging a conference on breast cancer, focusing on the role played by genetic screening in reducing the risk of contracting the disease.

Research shows that faulty or mutant genes are responsible for 5% to 10% of cases, making genetic screening an important tool in the fight to prevent breast cancer.

According to the latest figures from the National Cancer Registry, 2,285 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in 2004. Of these, 245 or 11% were in women under 45. But researchers believe incidence of the cancer is to double by 2020 to 4,700 annually, of which 470 will be in women predisposed to the disease through their genes.

Irish Cancer Society spokeswoman Jane Curtin said the rise could be attributed to factors like a growing population as well as better screening picking up the disease earlier.

New measures to combat the disease will be outlined to delegates at the conference today, with guests including women who have been detected at risk through their genes. In 2005, a family risk assessment clinic was founded at Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, to help identify women at risk of hereditary breast cancer via the family’s male or female lines.

Clinic nurse manager Vickie Lee said patients’ families were traced back three generations to see if the women were low, medium or high risk. “This is about identifying the very specific population of families whose risk is significantly increased and empowering these patients to make informed decisions,” she said.

* A free fact-sheet on hereditary breast cancer is available by telephoning Action Breast Cancer on 1800-309040.