“Westernizing” Women’s Risks? Breast Cancer in Lower-Income Countries

Interview with Peggy Porter on the increased rate of breast cancer in lower-income countries. (07:03)Download Recent media reports have highlighted the increasing incidence of breast cancer in low- and middle-income countries. Although the disease continues to be most prominent in affluent countries, the risks of both breast cancer and death due to breast cancer are clearly increasing worldwide (see maps). Some 45% of the more than 1 million new cases of breast cancer diagnosed each year, and more than 55% of breast-cancer–related deaths, occur in low- and middle-income countries.1 Such countries now face the challenge of effectively detecting and treating a disease that previously was considered too uncommon to merit the allocation of precious health . . .