Dubai: While breast cancer affects mostly women aged 40 and above, more and more cases of younger women developing breast cancer have been discovered in Dubai, a senior official at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) said on Tuesday.
“We have recently discovered that most of the patients are young, or below 40, and some of them are in their 20s, especially those who have cancer in their family history,” Dr Moza Al Hattawi, chairperson of the DHA Breast Cancer Campaign, told Gulf News on the sidelines of the launch of the breast cancer awareness campaign at Dubai Hospital.
“I advise them to do the screening, mammogram, or the self-breast examination [regularly] and clinical examination 10 years prior to the age of her mother, her aunt or relative, had the cancer,” Al Hattawi added.
Between 2011 and 2012, Al Hattawi said that of the 105 patients who underwent biopsy, 45 were diagnosed with breast cancer — majority in the second stage, the rest in the third stage. Of the 45 breast cancer patients, half were women aged below 40.
Genetic factors increase the likelihood of a woman developing cancer during her lifetime by 80 per cent. But breast cancer risk is higher by five to 10 per cent among women whose close blood relatives had the disease.
Cause of mortality
In the UAE, cancer is the second cause of death among women, with breast cancer being the most common type afflicting women. However, many women are still unaware of this fact.
“We find that there are still a significant number of women who are not aware of this. Almost 30 per cent of women who are detected with breast cancer come to us in the third stage, and this is a trend we want to reduce through awareness campaigns,” Al Hattawi said.
The DHA Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign will run for four months, culminating in October, the Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The campaign will go around all government institutions, with a plan of extending it later to academic institutions.
A mobile mammogram will be available through Philips’ state-of-the-art MicroDose mammography unit which has the ability to deliver high-quality images and up to 50 per cent less radiation impact on women undergoing the screenings.
Screening for men too
The all-female team, headed by Dr Al Hattawi, however, is not restricting the screening process to women. Even men may go for a screening. Male breast cancer is rare and accounts for about one per cent of all cancer cases. But studies show obese men have higher levels of estrogen in their bodies. Risks of developing male breast cancer increase among morbidly obese men by three to five per cent compared to average weight men.
“Morbid obesity will lead to toxic estrogen in the body and the accumulation of this toxic estrogen will lead to malformation of the cells, causing the cancer,” Dr Al Hattawi said.
“We are targeting even the men because there is some percentage of them affected by breast cancer. We have already discovered four cases since 2007.”