Breast cancer mortality statistics

Breast cancers is the third most common cause of cancer death in the UK, accounting for 7% of all cancer deaths. It is the second most common cause of cancer death among women (2010) in the UK, after lung cancer, accounting for around 15% of female deaths from cancer. Breast cancer was the most common cause of death from cancer in women until 1998; since then there have been more deaths from lung cancer in women.

In 2010, there were 11,633 deaths from breast cancer in the UK (Table 2.1): 11,556 (99%) in women and 77 (1%) in men, giving a female:male ratio of around 150:1.1-3 The crude mortality rate shows that there were around 37 breast cancer deaths for every 100,000 women in the UK and less than 1 for every 100,000 men.

European age-standardised mortality rates (AS rates) of breast cancer do not differ significantly between the UK’s four constituent countries, and have not done so since 2003.

Table 2.1: Breast Cancer (C50), Number of Deaths, Crude and European Age-Standardised (AS) Mortality Rates per 100,000 Population, UK, 2010

*95% LCL and 95% UCL are the 95% lower and upper confidence limits around the AS Rate

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Please note: In the following four sections, data are for female breast cancer only. The final section on this page presents data on breast cancer in males.

section updated 05/07/12

Female breast cancer mortality is strongly related to age. In the UK between 2008 and 2010, around 90% of female breast cancer deaths were in women aged 50 years and over. (Figure 2.1).1-3 Age-specific mortality rates from female breast cancer increase steadily from ages 30 to 70-74; the rates then increase more sharply above this age group, reaching a peak at age 85+.

Around 10% of female breast cancer deaths occur in women aged 15-49 year-olds, 33% in 50-69 year-olds, and the rest in women aged over 70. Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death for women aged 15-49, with around 1,200 women in this age group dying of breast cancer each year.

Figure 2.1: Breast Cancer (C50), Average Number of Deaths per Year and Age-Specific Mortality Rates, Females, UK, 2008-2010

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section updated 10/05/12

Overall, female breast cancer mortality rates have decreased in the UK since the early 1970s, though this includes a steady increase from this time to the mid-1980s, and a decrease since then (Figure 2.2).1-3 European AS mortality rates were around 39% lower in 2008-2010 than in 1984-1986 when rates peaked.

The reduction in female breast cancer mortality rates is likely to have several different causes including improved detection through screening, increasing specialisation of care,4 and better access to more effective treatments (such as improved surgical techniques, targeted use of radiotherapy and use of adjuvant therapies including the widespread adoption of tamoxifen).5

Figure 2.2: Breast Cancer (C50), European Age-Standardised Mortality Rates, Females, UK, 1971-2010

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For all age groups, female breast cancer mortality rates have decreased in the UK over the last 40 years (Figure 2.3). For women over 50, there was an increase between the 1970s and mid-to-late 1980s, which has since been followed by the decrease. The rates for younger age groups have gradually decreased since the 1970s.

Between the late 1980s and 2008-2010, breast cancer mortality rates fell by 50% in the 15-39 age group, by 47% in the 40-49 age group, 45% in the 50-64 age group, 40% in the 65-69 age group and by 26% in women aged over 70 years.1-3

Women aged over 71 are not currently eligible for screening, and some studies have shown that women over 70 are less likely than younger women to receive surgery6,7 or radiotherapy8 for their breast cancer, which may explain the relatively slower change in mortality rates over time for this group.

Figure 2.3: Breast Cancer (C50), European Age-Standardised Mortality Rates, Females, By Age, UK, 1971-2010

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section updated 10/05/12

Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in women worldwide, estimated to be responsible for around 458,500 female deaths in 2008 or nearly one in seven (around 14%) of all cancer deaths in women. Female breast cancer mortality rates are lowest in Eastern Asia and highest in Southern and Western Africa, with an around three-fold variation in female mortality rates between the regions of the world (Figure 2.4).9

Figure 2.4: Breast Cancer (C50), World Age-Standardised Mortality Rates, Females, World Regions, 2008 Estimates

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Within the 27 countries of the European Union (EU-27), the highest female breast cancer European AS mortality rates for 2008 were estimated to be in Ireland (31.1 deaths per 100,000 women), while the lowest were in Spain (18.4 deaths per 100,000 women) (Figure 2.5).10 UK female breast cancer mortality rates are estimated to be the 7th highest in Europe.

Figure 2.5: Breast Cancer (C50), European Age-Standardised Mortality Rates, EU-27 Countries, Females, 2008 Estimates

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section updated 10/05/12

There does not appear to be an association between female breast cancer mortality rates and socio-economic deprivation in the UK.11-13 Whilst breast cancer incidence is generally higher in more affluent women,14 so is breast cancer survival,15,16 which together mean deprivation has a minimal effect on mortality rates.

section updated 10/05/12

In 2010, 77 men died from breast cancer (Table 2.1). Breast cancer accounts for less than 1% of cancer deaths in men.

Breast cancer mortality in males is strongly related to age. In the UK between 2008 and 2010, an average of around 92% of male breast cancer deaths were in men aged 50 years and over (Figure 2.6).1-3

Figure 2.6: Breast Cancer (C50) Average Number of Deaths per Year and Age-Specific Mortality Rates, Males, UK, 2008-2010

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Breast cancer mortality rates for men have been consistently very low since the 1970s, fluctuating around 0.3-0.4 per 100,000 men between the 1970s and the early 1990s and then slightly falling to around 0.15 per 100,000 men since then.

Figure 2.7: Breast Cancer (C50), European Age-Standardised Mortality Rates, Males, UK, 1971-2010

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section updated 10/05/12