Decrease in death risk was observed across age groups and whether or not the subjects were screened for the disease
Photo: iStock_ Breast cancer mortality and likelihood of death saw a gradual and significant decrease since 1990s, a new study on more than half a million women in England showed.
The number of women who died after being diagnosed with breast cancer dropped two-thirds in the last two decades, the research paper published in the journal BMJ illustrated.
The risks of fatality within the first five years of diagnosis also decreased during the period, the scientists found. It went from 14.4 per cent for women diagnosed with the disease during 1993-99 to 4.9 per cent for those diagnosed during 2010-15.
The decrease in death risk was observed across age groups and whether or not they were screened for the disease, they noted.
Every year, more than two million people across the world are diagnosed with breast cancer.
The researchers studied 512,447 women who were registered in England with early invasive breast cancer from January 1993 through December 2015. The cases were monitored till December 31, 2020.
It was the first cancer for all of the subjects and they received initial treatment such as breast conserving surgery or mastectomy as well as adjuvant therapies such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and endocrine therapy in some cases, according to the authors of the report.
An improvement in prognosis was noticed as the years progressed. The researchers found that more than six in 10 of the women diagnosed during 2010-15 had a 3 per cent or lower risk of dying from disease in the following five years and nearly nine in 10 had a risk below 10 per cent.
Breast cancer mortality is highest during the five years following diagnosis and, although deaths from breast cancer will continue to occur beyond this, the risk during each subsequent five year period is likely to be lower than during the first five years, the authors added.
Also, the five-year fatality risks in patients diagnosed recently (2010-2015) varied widely based on characteristics of patients and tumours, the scientists wrote.
Among the 153,006 women who received a diagnosis during this period, the risk of dying was under 3 per cent for 62.8 per cent of them but 20 per cent or more for 4.6 per cent, according to the findings.
The associations between the variables studied and breast cancer mortality have been changing over time, the scientists said. "The mortality of women who had a diagnosis made in the most recent period are most relevant to women with diagnoses of breast cancer today, they added.
“These decreases in breast cancer mortality have implications for decision aids, which are used in the clinic to estimate the absolute benefits of adjuvant treatments for individual patients,” the authors wrote in the report.
The findings can help reassure women treated for early breast cancer that they are likely to become long term survivors, the scientists added. “They can also be used to identify the groups of women for whom the risk of breast cancer mortality remains substantial.”
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