Author(s)

Salman Khazaei¹, Shahab Rezaeian², Zaher Khazaei³, Leila Molaeipoor⁴, Shahrzad Nematollahi^5*, Parvaneh Lak⁶, Somayeh Khazaei⁷

¹Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
²Social Development & Health Promotion Research Center, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran.
³Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
⁴Department of Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
⁵Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁶MD of Obs &Gyn, Shaheed Chamran Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁷BSc in Operating Room, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran.

Background: This study aimed to identify the role of human development index (HDI) in the incidence and mortality rates of breast cancer (BC) worldwide. Methods: Data on the age-standardized incidence and mortality rates of BC for 184 countries were obtained from the GLOBOCAN. Data about the HDI and other indices were obtained from the World Bank Report 2013. Linear regression model was used for assessment the effect of HDI on BC occurrence rates. Results: In 2012, BCs were estimated to have affected a total of 1,671,149 individuals (crude rate: 47.8 per 100,000 individuals), and caused 521,907 deaths worldwide (crude rate: 14.7 per 100,000 individuals). Nearly half of total female BC cases (46.3%) with the highest risk of incidence (age-standardized Rate (ASR): 128 per 100,000) had occurred in very high HDI regions. The most proportion of the mortality burden was in low HDI and medium HDI areas. Linear regression analyses showed a direct significant correlation between the incidence of BC and HDI at the global level (B = 104.5, P < 0.001). The mortality rate of BC was not significantly associated with HDI (B = 3.26, P = 0.160). Conclusion: Our study showed that the burden of female BC is enormous in very high HDI and low HID regions. Targeted interventions have the ability to reduce this number significantly through resource-dependent interventions. Moreover, further reductions in mortality could be brought about by increasing access to curative treatment for patients with BC.

Breast Cancer, Human Development Index, Incidence, Age-Standardized Incidence and Mortality Rates

Khazaei, S. , Rezaeian, S. , Khazaei, Z. , Molaeipoor, L. , Nematollahi, S. , Lak, P. and Khazaei, S. (2016) National Breast Cancer Mortality and Incidence Rates According to the Human Development Index: An Ecological Study. Advances in Breast Cancer Research, 5, 30-36. doi: 10.4236/abcr.2016.51003.