Kylie’s breast cancer diagnosis a wake-up call for Asia

SYDNEY - The announcement that Australian pop superstar Kylie Minogue has breast cancer has not only made front-page news around the world but served as a wake-up call to many in Asia about the rising incidence of the disease in young women.

The news has shocked Australians but also provoked debate about the prevalence of the disease.

Incidence has risen

Prime Minister John Howard acknowledged that what happened to 36-year-old Minogue happens to many young women.

“It’s a reminder, because it’s a high-profile person, just how wide is the incidence of breast cancer among young women,” he said on Wednesday.

More than 11,700 Australian woman are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and it remains the biggest cause of cancer death in Australian women.

The incidence of the disease has grown in the past 20 years and the number of younger women being diagnosed with it now accounts for about six percent of cases. Between 1983 and 2001, the number of women aged 30 to 39 developing the disease rose from 446 to 619.

Age, genetics and lifestyle are biggest risks

Gill Batt of the New South Wales Cancer Council says that besides age, genetics and lifestyle are the biggest risks to developing the cancer.

The number of cases around Asia has also risen in the past decade, with some experts attributing the increase to greater awareness and higher living standards. High-fat diets, alcohol, hormone replacement therapy and smoking have also been linked.

In China the number of cases has jumped by about 30 percent in the past decade, with the highest rates in major cities, according to state media.

The number of cases in Singapore has more than doubled over the past three decades, and every year between 200 and 300 women die from the disease, according to government figures.

In South Korea breast cancer cases have increased in recent years and it is the second most common cancer in women after stomach cancer.

While some 1,000 women died from the disease in South Korea in 2000, the number of deaths from the illness by 2010 would more than double to 2,034, according to Seoul National University Hospital professor Yoo Keun-Yong.

Late motherhood could be an issue

Yoo said the increase could be the result of a trend for women to avoid breast feeding and to have children at a later age.

“Breast cancer has been increasing as Korean women become more sedentary due to modernization, coupled with westernized dietary habits,” Yoo said.

In Hong Kong hospitals the number of patients rose from 1,138 a year to 2,059 between 1992 and 2002 -- an increase of 81 percent.

In Taiwan breast cancer rates have more than doubled since the early 1990s. Some 42 women were diagnosed out of every 100,000 in 2001 compared with 21 in 100,000 in 1991, according to government statistics.

“People consume too much fat and an increasing number of women become obese, a key factor tipped to be related to several kinds of cancer like breast cancer, endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer,”  said C. Jay Cheng, a gynaecologist at Taipei’s Cathay General Hospital.

Cheng said the rise could also be linked to pollution and women having fewer children.

“Breast cancer is on the rise and it is probably the number one cancer in Pakistan,” said a senior doctor at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Research hospital in Lahore.

“The rise in the number of patients is probably due to the increased awareness in society,” said Ali. But increased awareness meant many no longer waited until the disease became serious and received early treatment, he said.

“Breast cancer is the second most common cancer found among Thai women (after ovarian cancer), and the figure is rising every year,”  said Akom Chaiveerawattana of Thailand’s National Cancer Institute.

The rate of infection was 17.2 out of every 100,000 people, rising from 13.5 in 1988.

Hong Kong Cancer Fund communications manager Irene Cheung says Minogue’s diagnosis would raise awareness especially among younger women.

Fear makes women reluctant to get tested

“She is only 36. Most people think breast cancer only happens to older woman. But there is an increasing trend that it happens to younger people, so this will alert young females to do regular checks and if in doubt, seek help from the doctor,” she said.

But while the subject is no longer taboo in much of Asia, thanks to campaigns to treat tumours early, many women are still reluctant to be tested because of a perception that the disease is incurable.

Chaiveerawattana says while more women are aware of the need for breast cancer testing, the message was not reaching rural women.

And according to a Singapore national health survey in 1998, only one in three women aged 50-69 had ever had a mammogram.

AFP