Epidemiology and etiology of breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death among women worldwide, and breast cancer is by far the most frequent cancer among women, with an estimated 1.38 million new cancer cases diagnosed in 2008 (23% of all cancers), and ranks second overall (10.9% of all cancers). It is now the most common cancer both in developed and developing regions with approximately 690,000 new cases estimated for each region (population ratio 1:4). Incidence rates vary from 19.3 per 100,000 women in Eastern Africa to 89.7 per 100,000 women in Western Europe, and are higher (greater than 80 per 100,000) in the developed regions of the world (except Japan) and lower (less than 40 per 100,000) in most of the developing regions [1]. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013.