Breast cancer cases are expected to increase worldwide, study warns

Breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer and has become the most common cancer today. In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) set a global goal of reducing mortality from the disease by 2.5% per year by 2040. This would mean avoiding the deaths of 2.5 million people. However, a new study highlights a number of obstacles to achieving the proposed goal.

According to researchers, misinformation and stigma associated with the disease, as well as inequality in the provision of treatments, make breast cancer treatment and diagnosis difficult. The work was signed by oncology, radiotherapy and epidemiology experts from different countries, and was published in the scientific journal The Lancet.

The study states that lack of knowledge about the disease is one of the main challenges. Lack of information interferes with how healthcare professionals approach the condition and how patients themselves see themselves, leading to a skeptical attitude and delaying seeking help.

Another problem is the underreporting of cases of metastasis (when the cancer spreads to other organs), which makes planning and providing treatment difficult. Therefore, researchers highlight the importance of initiatives that promote the social inclusion of patients, such as legal flexibility in work regime, and projects that help transform the conception of the disease.

Post-breast cancer cases are expected to increase worldwide, warns study which first appeared in Olhar Digital.

Source: Olhar Digital