TUESDAY, Feb. 21, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- Westernization may be contributing to the rise in breast cancer among South Korean women, researchers report.
Changes in the Korean lifestyle, such as lower birth rates, lower breast-feeding rates, and increased breast cancer screening may be driving the trend, according to a report in the February issue of the Archives of Surgery.
Researchers at the University of Ulsan and Asan Medical Center, Seoul, compared 2003 and 1991 data collected from thousands of South Korean women who underwent breast cancer surgery.
They found that more South Korean women are developing breast cancer; there is a larger proportion of young patients, asymptomatic cancers, breast-conserving surgery and immediate breast reconstruction after mastectomy; and more women have risk factors for the disease, such as early menarche (first menstrual period), late menopause, high-fat diets and obesity.
Currently, rates of breast cancer in South Korea are still lower than those in Western countries, but the incidence of breast cancer in South Korea is increasing at a more rapid rate than the world average, the study noted.
"We believe that the younger generations of Korean women have been directly affected by the progressive westernization of the Korean lifestyle," the study authors wrote.
"The present results suggest that the rate of breast cancer in Korea will continue to increase owing to westernized lifestyles, and the clinical characteristics of Korean breast cancer are now reflecting the patterns of Western countries," they concluded.
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute discusses breast cancer prevention.
