Breast Cancer in England

Breast Cancer in England

A Report Based on the Presentation of Statistical Information

Dilruwa Rajapakse dr248 CB313 Group 04
Contents

1.0 Abstract ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------03
2.0 Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------------03
3.0 Methodology --------------------------------------------------------------------------03
4.0 Findings---------------------------------------------------------------------------------04
4.1 Regional Breast Screening Coverage------------------------------------04
4.2 Breast Cancer Detection by Age Group---------------------------------05
4.3 Categorisation of Breast Cancer by Size--------------------------------06
4.4 Mortality Rate-----------------------------------------------------------------07
4.5 General Commentary--------------------------------------------------------07
5.0 Conclusion------------------------------------------------------------------------------08
6.0 References -----------------------------------------------------------------------------09

1.0 Abstract
This report presents an analysis of data on breast cancer in England among women. It mainly concerns on the NHS breast screening programme, to clarify the reader about the coverage of breast screening and a further interpretation is also provided on the identification of the types of breast cancer and mortality rates.

2.0 Introduction
This report is produced by me in the aim of meeting one of the requirements of CB313 assignments. It was required for the students who took the ‘Introduction to Statistics for Business’ module in University of Kent Canterbury, to prepare a report which analyses statistical information effectively. As the topic could be selected according to the student’s interest, I chose ‘The Increase of Breast Cancer in the UK’ as it is a topic which relates to the society in a broader context and an area which drives high attention due to the rise of breast cancer in the past years.
According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer which is formed in the tissues of the breast is identified as breast cancer. Mainly, this cancer could be discovered in females around the ducts- which are the tubes that carry milk and in the lobules which are the glands that produce milk. Breast cancer could be found in both males and females but males are victimised by it very rarely (National Cancer Institute 2012). As stated by the Cancer Research UK, breast cancer is the most diagnosed type of cancer in the UK and according to The Telegraph; Britain has the highest rate of deaths due to breast cancer among the other European counties (The Telegraph 2011).
This report will present accurate and reliable forms of data which is collected from responsible sources together with an analysis which will interpret the findings and guide the reader to make appropriate conclusions. For the clarity of the content and for the interest and knowledge of the reader I have divided the topic in to sub areas such as; * Regional Breast Screening Coverage * Breast Cancer Detection by Age Group * Categorisation of Breast Cancer by Size * Mortality Rate

3.0 Methodology

As this report is formed under a ‘short report’, all the data which is presented is gathered from secondary research. The internet was the main and the only source of information. First and foremost, the web site of Cancer Research UK was used to collect most of the data and the graphs which is relevant to the topic. Additionally, the web pages of NHS Information Centre and National Cancer Institute were used to cover the topic effectively. The graphs which are taken directly from the web pages are sited appropriately. Also as the percentage of male cancer cases are minor in England, statistics which are presented in the report are based only on females.

4.0 Findings
The data collected from the research is presented for an analytical description.

4.1 Regional Breast Screening Coverage
Breast screening is a programme which was introduced to England in the 1988 to detect breast cancer at early stages. NHS provides free breast screening for the women aged above 50. According to a recent extension, women above 47 are also eligible for the screening (NHS 2012). This programme has been able to lower the mortality rates in the population and it is described in the given graphs.
Figure 01 presents the coverage of breast screening by the regions of England. The highest percentage of women from the age category of 53-70, is recorded from East Midlands which is 81.8% and all the other regions carry a percentage between 70%-75% except London, which shows the lowest percentage of 68.9.

Figure 01: Breast Screening Coverage among Women aged 53-70 in England at 31st March 2011 by Region |
(Source: NHS Information Centre 2012)

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4.2 Brest Cancer Detection by Age Group
The following table presents the number of breast cancer detections of females in the years 2000-01, 2009-10 and 2010-11. According to The Cancer Research centre, it is discovered that women above the age of 45 have an extremely high probability of getting breast cancer than the women under that age group. Therefore the breast screening programme in England also aims at that specific group. Table 01 provide evidence of the detected number of cancers within the age groups of 45+ and 50-70+. In the time period between 2010 and 11, the cancer diagnosed from the women under the age group of 45 and above is 14,725 from 1,884,368 of screened women. Therefore, there is a 7.8 potentiality of breast cancer case occurrences in every 1,000 women. In comparison with the previous years, the detected number of cancer has been increased. For instance, the cancer detection rate per 1000 women in 2001-01 is increased from 6.4 to 7.9 in 2009-10. The slight increase could be due to the population growth as the screened number has also grown by 585,616 when it comes to period 2010-11. Similarly, the cancers detected from the age group of 50-70 also show a slight boost in 2010-11 ( increase of 190 cases) which is also due to the population increase. Overall the increase of the detected breast cancer cases does not show a significant increase in the years but show a gradual growth by time and the increase of population.
Table 01: Breast Cancer Detected by age group in England 2009-10, 2010,11

(Source: NHS Information Centre 2012)
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4.3 Categorisation of Breast Cancer by Size
Table 02: Cancers detected by size, women aged 45 and over in England in the periods of 2009-10, 2010-11
Table 02 provides data of the breast cancer detection according to the size of the cancer. According to NHS, breast cancer could be divided in to stages of non- invasive and invasive. Non-invasive cancers spreads only around the milk ducts and do not expand to normal tissues of the breast. Micro invasive is also referred to the lesser cancer development in the ducts. Contrastingly, the invasive cancer spreads in to the healthy tissues of the breast. This category is further divided in to sub parts as ‘invasive small’ and ‘invasive’ according to the development of the cancer cells in the breast. Through the screening programme, in the period of 2009-10 a total of 14,229 cases have been recorded of which 80% (11,379) is invasive cancer and 19.9% (2,830) is non-invasive cancer. This exaggerates that the invasive cancers which are the developed cancers are more common in the women above 45 years. 2010-11 also provides quite similar data as detected cases of invasive cancer is 79% and the non-invasive is 20.5% from the total detected cancers. Altogether, the provided data explains that the women who are detected as cancers patients are more likely to get invasive cancer at the ages above 45.
(Source: NHS Information Centre 2012)

4.3 Mortality Rate
Figure 02: Mortality Rate from 1971- 2010

(Source: Office for National Statistics 2012)
Figure 02 illustrates the death rate due to breast cancer between the period of 1971-2010. As described in the graph, it is clear that the mortality rate is stable at 40 till year 1988 and then faces a gradual decline. As stated in the graph, it is due to the introduction of the cancer screening programme. On the other hand, the incidence is continuously rising over the years.

4.5 General Commentary
The introduction of the NHS breast screening programme has been able to cover all the women who are above the selected age limit to detect breast cancer at its early stages. The participation of the women has been increased over the years. Therefore high breast awareness is depicted in England in the recent years. Also the death rate is declining after the introduction of screening in 1988. This may be due to the improved medical conditions and the probability of survival because of the early stage cancer detection. However, as in the Figure 02, the risk of 45+ aged women getting breast cancer is increasing continuously. The dedication of the government and the health sector of England is visible by the efficient and effective conduction of the NHS breast screening programme. Every woman who is above 45 is invited for a breast screening once in every 3 years which is done freely. As seen in Figure 01, this programme covers all the regions of England.
5.0 Conclusion
Breast cancer is identified as the most popular cancer in England due to the highest number of cancer detections and the highest number of recorded deaths from the overall cancer cases in the country. The females are victimised by this cancer than males as the detection of male breast cancer cases are meant to be very rare. According to the data collected by NHS, the women above 45years have a high probability of getting breast cancer. Taking this to account NHS conducts a breast screening programme to identify cancer cases at early stages and provide them with needed medication and advice. This programme covers all the regions and it is clearly visible that the mortality rate is declining after the introduction of this programme. According to the recorded data, invasive breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among the women above 45 years. An important fact is that, incidence of getting breast cancer does not stop or decrease over the years, but shows a growth according to the growth of population. To conclude, breast cancer could be recognised as a severe threat to the women above 45 in England. Participating in the free screening programme can be given as the best method of detecting cancer at first, and clarifying any risks or uncertainties.

6.0 References

Breast Cancer Organisation (2012), Non Invasive and Invasive Breast Cancer, [Online]. Available from: http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/invasive.jsp [Accessed on 22 March 2012].

Cancer Research UK (2012), Breast Cancer UK Incidence Statistics, [Online]. Available from: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/breast/incidence/#trends [Accessed on 20 March 2012].

NHS Information Centre (2012), Breast Screening Programme England 2010-2011, [Online]. Available from: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/008_Screening/brstscreen1011/brst_scr_prog_eng_2010_11_rep.pdf [Accessed on 20 March 2012].

Office for National Statistics (2012), Breast Cancer in England, [Online]. Available from: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/cancer-unit/breast-cancer-in-england/2009/breast-cancer.html [Accessed on 22 March 2012].

References: Breast Cancer Organisation (2012), Non Invasive and Invasive Breast Cancer, [Online]. Available from: http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/invasive.jsp [Accessed on 22 March 2012]. Cancer Research UK (2012), Breast Cancer UK Incidence Statistics, [Online]. Available from: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/breast/incidence/#trends [Accessed on 20 March 2012]. NHS Information Centre (2012), Breast Screening Programme England 2010-2011, [Online]. Available from: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/008_Screening/brstscreen1011/brst_scr_prog_eng_2010_11_rep.pdf [Accessed on 20 March 2012]. Office for National Statistics (2012), Breast Cancer in England, [Online]. Available from: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/cancer-unit/breast-cancer-in-england/2009/breast-cancer.html [Accessed on 22 March 2012].