‘Indian women diagnosed with more aggressive breast cancer very early’

New York, Oct 25 : In a major US study, researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have found that Indian and Pakistani women are diagnosed with breast cancer, including more aggressive forms of the disease, at a younger age.
The study, published in the International Journal of Cancer, examined the characteristics of breast cancer in Indian- and Pakistani-American and non-Hispanic white women in the US.
“Our results provide an insight into breast cancer in Indian and Pakistani women, suggesting several hypotheses to guide future scientific studies to better understand the risk factors,” said study author Jaya M Satagopan from the Rutgers University in the US.
The researchers reviewed incidence data among Indian and Pakistani women between 1990 and 2014.
They also reviewed disease characteristics, treatment and survival data between 2000 and 2016 for 4,900 Indian and Pakistani women and 482,250 non-Hispanic white women with breast cancer.
They found that the occurrence of breast cancer in Indian and Pakistani women was lower than in non-Hispanic white women; however, the number of Indian and Pakistani women diagnosed with breast cancer increased over the years.