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Deaths from breast cancer to fall in EU this year
February 29, 2012
Breast cancer death rates are predicted to drop significantly in 2012.
There will be substantial reductions in deaths from breast cancer in the EU this year, new estimates suggest.
Italian and Swiss researchers have predicted a nine per cent drop in breast cancer deaths across the EU as a whole, with death rates from the disease likely to be 14.9 per 100,000 women.
The expected reduction in deaths from breast cancer is likely to be even more substantial for young women, aged 20 to 49.
Among women in this age group, experts predict the drop in breast cancer death rates to be just over 13 per cent, with the rate being 6.3 per 100,000 women.
Professor Carlo La Vecchia, one of the study's leaders at the University of Milan, said: "The fact that there will be substantial falls in deaths from breast cancer, not only in middle age but also in the young, indicates that important advancements in treatment and management are playing a major role in the decline in death rates."
This is likely to have been a more important factor than breast screening, which the professor noted is usually restricted to older women.
Professor La Vecchia also noted that the actual incidence of breast cancer has "probably not gone down", but that deaths from the disease "are declining".
A spokeswoman for the UK charity Breast Cancer Care welcomed the predicted figures, which are published in the Annals of Oncology.
Jackie Harris, the charity's clinical nurse specialist, observed: "It is extremely encouraging to hear that despite growing incidence, breast cancer mortality rates across age groups are predicted to drop significantly in 2012."
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