Estimates of current cancer mortality, in terms of absolute numbers and of rates, are essential for planning resource allocation and designing and evaluating cancer prevention and management strategies. However, mortality figures generally only become available after a few years.
We updated trends in breast cancer mortality in Europe up to the late 2000's. In the EU, age-adjusted (world standard population) breast cancer mortality rates declined by 6.9% between 2002 and 2006, from 17.9 to 16.7/100,000. The largest falls were in northern European countries, but more recent declines were also observed in central and eastern Europe. In 2007, all major European countries had overall breast cancer rates between 15 and 19/100,000. In relative terms, the declines in mortality were larger at younger age (-11.6% at age 20-49 years between 2002 and 2007 in the EU), and became smaller with advancing age (-6.6% at age 50-69, -5.0% at age 70-79 years).
The model predicts continuing declines in breast cancer mortality rates, essentially due to improved management and treatment of the disease. The present report confirms and further quantifies the persisting steady fall in breast cancer mortality in Europe over the last 25-30 years, which is mainly due to advancements in the therapy.