A pragmatic approach to tackle the rising burden of breast cancer through prevention & early detection in countries 'in transition'

Estimating disparities in breast cancer screening programs towards mortality, case fatality, and DALYs across BRICS-plus

BACKGROUND

Numerous studies over the past four decades have revealed that breast cancer screening (BCS) significantly reduces breast cancer (BC) mortality. However, in BRICS-plus countries, the association between BCS and BC case fatality and disability are unknown. This study examines the association of different BCS approaches with age-standardized mortality, case-fatality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rates, as well as with other biological and sociodemographic risk variables, across BRICS-plus from a national and economic perspective.

METHODS

In this ecological study applying mixed-effect multilevel regression models, a country-specific dataset was analyzed by combining data from the Global Burden of Disease study 2019 on female age-standardized BC mortality, incidence, and DALYs rates with information on national/regional BCS availability (against no such program or only a pilot program) and BCS type (only self-breast examination (SBE) and/or clinical breast examination (CBE) [SBE/CBE] versus SBE/CBE with mammographic screening availability [MM and/or SBE/CBE] versus SBE/CBE/mammographic with digital mammography and/or ultrasound (US) [DMM/US and/or previous tests] in BRICS-plus countries.

RESULTS

Compared to self/clinical breast examinations (SBE/CBE) across BRICS-plus, more complex BCS program availability was the most significant predictor of decreased mortality [MM and/or SBE/CBE: - 2.64, p < 0.001; DMM/US and/or previous tests: - 1.40, p < 0.001]. In the BRICS-plus, CVD presence, high BMI, second-hand smoke, and active smoking all contributed to an increase in BC mortality and DALY rate. High-income and middle-income regions in BRICS-plus had significantly lower age-standardized BC mortality, case-fatality, and DALYs rates than low-income regions when nationwide BC screening programs were implemented.

CONCLUSIONS

The availability of mammography (digital or traditional) and BCS is associated with breast cancer burden in BRICS-plus countries, with regional variations. In light of high-quality evidence from previous causal studies, these findings further support the preventive role of mammography screening for BCS at the national level. Intervening on BCS related risk factors may further reduce the disease burden associated with BC.

Effectiveness of physical exercise programmes in reducing complications associated with secondary lymphoedema to breast cancer: a protocol for an overview of systematic reviews

INTRODUCTION

Breast cancer-related lymphoedema (BCRL) is one of the most underestimated and debilitating complications associated with the treatment that women with breast cancer receive. Several systematic reviews (SRs) of different physical exercise programmes have been published, presenting disperse and contradictory clinical results. Therefore, there is a need for access to the best available and summarised evidence to capture and evaluate all the physical exercise programmes that focus on reducing BCRL.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of different physical exercise programmes in reducing the volume of lymphoedema, pain intensity and improving quality of life.

METHOD AND ANALYSIS

The protocol of this overview is reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols, and its methodology is based on Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Only those SRs involving physical exercise by patients with BCRL will be included, whether on its own or combined with other exercises or other physical therapy interventions.The outcomes of interest to be considered will be lymphoedema volume, quality of life, pain intensity, grip strength, range of motion, upper limb function and any adverse event. The MEDLINE/PubMed, Lilacs, Cochrane Library, PEDro and Embase databases will be searched for reports published from database inception to April 2023.Two researchers will perform study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment independently. Any discrepancy will be resolved by consensus, or ultimately, by a third-party reviewer. We will use Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation System to assess the overall quality of the body of evidence.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The results of this overview will be published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and the scientific dissemination will take place in national or international conferences. This study does not require approval from an ethics committee, as it does not directly collect information from patients.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42022334433.

Breast cancer epidemiology and sociodemographic differences in BRICS-plus countries from 1990 to 2019: An age period cohort analysis

Background

Breast cancer (BC) is a major health concern in the BRICS-plus, a group of developing nations consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and 30 other Asian countries, with nearly half of the world's population. This study aims to identify potential risk factors contributing to the burden of BC by assessing its epidemiological and socio-demographic changes.

Methods

Data on BC outcomes were obtained from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Survey. The age-period-cohort (APC) modeling technique was used to evaluate the nonlinear impacts of age, cohort, and period on BC outcomes and reported risk attributable mortality and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) rate changes between 1990 and 2019.

Results

In 2019, there were 0.90 million female BC cases and 0.35 million deaths in the BRICS-plus region, with China and India having the largest proportion of incident cases and deaths, followed by Pakistan. Lesotho experienced the highest annualized rates of change (AROC: 2.61%; 95%UI: 1.99-2.99) in the past three decades. Birth cohorts' impact on BC varies greatly between the BRICS-plus nations, with Pakistan suffering the largest risk increase in the most recent cohort. High body mass index (BMI), high fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and a diet high in red meat contributed to the highest death and DALYs rates in most BRICS-plus nations in 2019, and there was a strong negative link between SDI and death and DALYs rate.

Conclusions

The study found that the burden of BC varies significantly between BRICS-plus regions. Thus, BRICS-plus nations should prioritise BC prevention, raise public awareness, and implement screening efficiency measures to reduce the burden of BC in the future, as well as strengthen public health policies and initiatives for important populations based on their characteristics and adaptability.

More recent insights into the breast cancer burden across BRICS-Plus: Health consequences in key nations with emerging economies using the global burden of disease study 2019

Background

Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and 30 other Asian nations make up the BRICS-Plus, a group of developing countries that account for about half of the world's population and contribute significantly to the global illness burden. This study aimed to analyzed the epidemiological burden of female breast cancer (BC) across the BRICS-Plus from 1990 to 2019 and studied the associations with age, period, birth cohort and countries' sociodemographic index (SDI).

Methods

The BC mortality and incidence estimates came from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study. We estimated cohort and period effects in BC outcomes between 1990 and 2019 using age-period-cohort (APC) modeling. The maximum likelihood (ML) of the APC-model Poisson with log (Y) based on the natural-spline function was used to estimate the rate ratio (RR). We used annualized rate of change (AROC) to quantify change over the previous 30 years in BC across BRICS-Plus and compare it to the global.

Results

In 2019, there were about 1.98 million female BC cases (age-standardized rate of 45.86 [95% UI: 41.91, 49.76]) and 0.69 million deaths (age-standardized rate of 15.88 [95% UI: 14.66, 17.07]) around the globe. Among them, 45.4% of incident cases and 51.3% of deaths were attributed to the BRICS-Plus. China (41.1% cases and 26.5% deaths) and India (16.1% cases and 23.1% deaths) had the largest proportion of incident cases and deaths among the BRICS-Plus nations in 2019. Pakistan came in third with 5.6% cases and 8.8% deaths. Over the past three decades, from 1990 to 2019, the BRICS-Plus region's greatest AROC was seen in Lesotho (2.61%; 95%UI: 1.99-2.99). The birth cohort impacts on BC vary significantly among the BRICS-Plus nations. Overall, the risk of case-fatality rate tended to decline in all BRICS-Plus nations, notably in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (China-ASEAN FTA) countries, and the drop in risk in the most recent cohort was lowest in China and the Maldives. Additionally, there was a substantial negative link between SDI and case fatality rate (r₁₉₉₀= -0.91, p<0.001; r₂₀₁₉= -0.89, p<0.001) in the BRICS-Plus in both 1990 and 2019, with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) nations having the highest case fatality rate.

Conclusions

The BC burden varies remarkably between different BRICS-Plus regions. Although the BRICS' efforts to regulate BC succeeded, the overall improvements lagged behind those in high-income Asia-Pacific nations. Every BRICS-Plus country should strengthen specific public health approaches and policies directed at different priority groups, according to BRIC-Plus and other high-burden nations.

Assessing the knowledge, attitudes and barriers regarding health promotion of breast cancer among community pharmacists

Aim

This study aimed to identify the perspective knowledge, attitudes, and barriers of community pharmacists in promoting breast cancer health.

Methods

An internet-based self-administrated questionnaire was distributed using social media groups to the community pharmacists in Jordan.

Results

A 76.7% of the pharmacists had insufficient knowledge score of breast cancer and 92.7% had positive attitude. Access to breast cancer educational materials was the major barrier to pharmacists. A significant association was found between pharmacists' knowledge and breast cancer educational materials being given to patients (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Despite the low breast cancer knowledge score and stated barriers that could prevent actualizing community pharmacists' role, they had positive attitude toward educating patients about breast cancer health.

Breast cancer in India: Present scenario and the challenges ahead

Breast cancer is the commonest malignancy among women globally. From being fourth in the list of most common cancers in India during the 1990s, it has now become the first. In this review, we examine the available literature to understand the factors that contributed to the high burden of breast cancer in the country. We also provide the landscape of changes in the field of early diagnosis and the treatment modalities as well as the limitations of the Indian healthcare delivery systems (e.g., delayed diagnosis, human resources and funding for treatment). This review also sheds light on the newer interventions and the future of breast cancer management keeping in mind the coronavirus disease 2019 imposed limitations.

Leveraging vertical COVID-19 investments to improve monitoring of cancer screening programme - A case study from Bangladesh

Cancer screening programs from majority of the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) report screening coverage as the only performance indicator, and that too measured through population-based sample surveys. Such information is unreliable and has very little value in assessing programmatic quality and impact. Regular monitoring of key process and outcome indicators based on data collected through a robust information system is essential to ensure quality of a screening programme. Fragmented health systems, limited resources and absence of a culture of systematic evaluation are the major hindrances for most of the LMICs to build electronic information systems to manage screening. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an impetus for the countries to customize the freely available District Health Information Software (DHIS2) to collect electronic data to track the outbreaks and manage containment measures. In the present article we present Bangladesh as an exemplar LMIC that has a (DHIS2) based integrated health information system gradually upgraded to collect individual data of the participants to the national cervical cancer screening program. Such efforts paid rich dividends as the screening program was switched from opportunistic to a population-based one. Moreover, the electronic system could report impact of the pandemic on cancer screening on a monthly basis. The aggregate number of women screened in the year 2020 was 14.1% less compared to 2019. The monthly rate of screening during peak of the outbreak was only 5.1% of the previous year. The rate rapidly recovered as the program intensified screening in the hard-to-reach regions less affected by the pandemic and expanded the outreach services. Other LMICs may emulate Bangladesh example. Customizing the information system developed for pandemic surveillance to collect cancer screening data will help them build back the screening programs better.

Cancer screening at the level of state programs: review, recommendations and management

An overview of existing cancer screening programs, their organization system, and the main implementation parameters is presented. The methods of primary screening that have been shown to be effective in reducing mortality from certain cancers, as well as the reasons for the lack of screening programs in relation to some of them, are listed. The existing screening programs and their main characteristics are considered, and examples of using economic analysis to change screening programs are given. It is noted that in countries even with a large coverage, for example, in the United States and Germany, there is no single national register of screening, and the invitation system does not have a population-based nature. Although the large coverage and development of health systems in these countries allows for the positive effects of opportunistic screening, its effectiveness is lower than in countries with organized programs, and the costs are higher.