Breast Cancer Patients on Rise
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
More and more Korean women have fallen victim to breast cancer which has been growing 20 times as fast as the global average.
From 2000 till 2004, the number of the patients doubled, a major turnaround from the 1990s when the cancer was not so prevalent, according to the Korean Breast Cancer Society.
The number reached 9,669 in 2004.
Breast cancer cases in Korea were less numerous in the 1990s with 3,801 people being diagnosed with the disease in 1996 and 4,695 in 1998, according to the society.
Breast cancer accounted for 16.8 percent of all cancer cases affecting Korean women in 2002, the single-most serious disease.
According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer patients have grown by an annual average of 0.5 percent, compared with 10 percent for Korea.
The rise is attributable to obesity, delaying having children, avoiding breast-feeding, starting menstruation earlier and delayed menopause due to better nutrition, it said.
``Breast cancer cells grow on female sex hormones, and the hormone is not created during pregnancy. As young women delay giving birth to children, the chances of getting the cancer are rising because the hormone is created continuously,'' a spokesman of the society said.
Noteworthy is also that Korea has more younger breast cancer patients than other countries. In general, the number of breast cancer patients is higher for women in their 60s and 70s after menopause. But in Korea, 39 percent, or the largest ratio of total patients, are in their 40s. The number of patients in their 20s and 30s also takes up about 25 percent, four times that in the U.S.
``Young women have more fatty, westernized foods than the older generation. As young patients' breast cancer is developed faster, they need to have regular checkups,'' he said.
To alert women to the danger of breast cancer, many cities and companies around the world have held campaigns every October, with a pink ribbon as its symbol.
For example, Korean Air female workers and crew members wear pink ribbons on their chests and distribute self-check lists to female passengers this month. It had held the campaign since 1991 with Estee Lauder.
On Wednesday, buildings around the Seoul Plaza in central Seoul will be lit up with pink lights.