Age-Standardized Breast Cancer Detection Rates of Breast Cancer Screening Program by Age Group in Korea; Comparison with Age-Standardized Incidence Rates from the Korea Central Cancer Registry

To compare the epidemiological characteristics of a breast cancer screening program of patients between 40–69 years of age and ≥70 years of age, we calculated the age-standardized detection rate of the breast cancer screening program and compared it with the age-standardized incidence rate from the Korea Central Cancer Registry. The data of the breast cancer screening program from January 2009 to December 2016 and the data of the health insurance claims from January 2006 to August 2017 were used. In the 40–69 year age group, the age-standardized detection rate of breast cancer increased annually from 106.1 in 2009 to 158.6 in 2015 and did not differ from the age-standardized incidence rate. In the ≥70 year age group, the age-standardized detection rate of breast cancer increased annually from 65.7 in 2009 to 120.3 in 2015 and was 1.9 to 2.7 fold of the age-standardized incidence rate. It shows that the early detection effect of breast cancer screening was greater for patients over 70 years old. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effect of breast cancer detection in the ≥70 year age group on all-cause mortality or breast cancer mortality.