Breast cancer- human diease- epidemiology - Dissertation Example

The term ‘cancer’ refers to an uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells, which are known as malignant cells that proliferate until they form a tumour, which is an abnormal mass of tissue or can be described as a swelling. This causes the malignant cells to break away from the tumour and travel through blood or the lymphatic system to other organs such as the lungs, where the uncontrolled growth cycle repeats itself. The report of a working group to the Department of Health defines breast cancer as a “primary malignant neoplasm of the breast excluding those arising from connective tissue” (Breast Cancer: Report of a Working Group to the Department of Health, 2000).

This being a major problem that affects a considerable percentage of the population, it gains significance as a public health issue and needs to be addressed from that perspective. In this context, the following data published by the NHS, National Institute for Clinical Excellence, appended below in tabulated form, is relevant: Country No of Registrations (1998) Incidence: Crude Rate Per 100,000 (1998) No of Deaths (2000) Mortality: Crude Rate Per 100,000 (2000) England 32,908 131.0 10,609 41.

9 Wales 1,914 128.05 731 48.7 (Guidance on Cancer Care Services: Improving Outcomes in Breast Cancer, 2002). . Thus, the data reveals that the problem of breast cancer, though it affects female population largely, has to be recognized as a serious public health problem. Detailed region-wise graphical data has been appended as Annexure-I to VI to this paper. The Information Centre for Health and Social Care of the NHS has published data relating to current status of breast screening programmes in heir publication titled, Breast Screening Programme, England 2009-10 as under: (Breast Screening Programme, England 2009-10, 2011) From the above it transpires that 76.

9 women in England, who fall within the age group of 53-70, have undergone the screening process for checking breast cancer. On the other hand, the percentage in London shows a downward trend at 67%. Remaining regions also show the rates around 80. While this is a good percentage, considering the issue’s relevance as a major social problem, efforts need to be made to provide coverage to more women through such programmes. The report further projects data for 2002-2010, with the breakup of women into three categories based on age, as under: (Breast Screening Programme, England 2009-10, 2011) From this data, it emerges that the coverage for women in the age group of 53-64 has varied by a mere 1.

1% from 76.1 in 2002 to 77.2 in 2010, while that of women 65-70 has increased considerably by 44.5% from 31.7 in 2002 to 76.2 in 2010. The average coverage of both groups put together registers an increase of 16.4% from 63.5 in 2002 to 76.9 in 2010. Thus, the overall trend is encouraging while there is still scope for including more women in the purview of breast screening programmes. This growth of cancer is classified as metastatic spread as the cancer cells leave an area and form a tumour in another body