Breast Cancer Increasing in Asian Indian, Pakistani U.S. Women

TUESDAY, Nov. 3, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Breast cancer incidence among Asian Indian and Pakistani American (AIPA) women in the United States is increasing, according to a study published online Oct. 25 in the International Journal of Cancer.

Jaya M. Satagopan, Ph.D., from the Rutgers University School of Public Health in Piscataway, New Jersey, and colleagues used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program (1990 and 2016) to compare characteristics of breast cancer in AIPA and non-Hispanic White (NHW) women.

The researchers found that the number of breast cancers diagnosed in AIPA women increased from 115 (2.3 percent) in 2000 to 497 (10 percent) in 2016. Breast cancer incidence was lower in AIPA than NHW women. Incidence increased with age, but the rate of increase declined after age 46 years. Compared with NHW women, AIPA women were diagnosed at significantly younger ages (mean, 62.0 versus 54.5 years). Compared with NHW women, AIPA women were more likely to have regional or distant-stage, higher-grade, estrogen receptor-negative, progesterone receptor-negative, triple-negative, or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-enriched tumors. AIPA women were also more likely to undergo subcutaneous or total mastectomy and had lower cumulative incidence of death due to breast cancer.

“Breast cancer in AIPA women has specific characteristics that need to be further studied for understanding disease etiology and outcomes in this understudied and growing population,” the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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