Belgium is one of the countries with the highest rate of breast cancer in the world. But research does not yet understand why.
It is the most common cancer in women. Right in the middle pink octoberbreast cancer awareness month, it is clear that the Belgian female population is exposed to it.
In 2022, 11,302 new cases have been registered in Belgium, according to figures from the Belgian cancer registry. 11,192 women for every 110 men, or one woman in eight. One of the highest rates of breast cancer in the world.
Three years ago, Belgium held the sad record to be the country with the highest incidence rate (number of new cases of a disease over a given period, reported per 100,000 people) of breast cancer in the world, according to figures from the International Research Agency against cancer of the WHO. She is now back down in 3e positionbehind France and Cyprus, with a rate of 104.4 cases per 100,000 women in 2022.
“We don’t really know why,” replies, bored, Doctor Jean-Benoît Burrion, head of the “Prevention & Screening” clinic at the Jules Bordet Institute. “There is an old hypothesis according to which it is because for a long time we have abused prescriptions of replacement hormones for menopausal women,” he says. However, it has been proven that this type of treatment increases the risk of developing breast cancer.
The role of screening
For her part, Véronique Le Ray, director of the Cancer Foundation, first mentions the fact that “access to screening is quite good in Belgium”. All, women aged 50 to 69 are invited to take a free mammogram (Mammotest) every two years.
In 2021, Belgium posted a overall coverage rate 59% for breast cancer screening. This rate was clearly highest in Flanders (65.8%) than in Wallonia (49.2%) or Brussels (48.0%). Participation in organized screening of breast cancer varies considerably from one region to another, with rates of 49.2% in Flanders, 9% in Brussels and barely 4% in Wallonia in 2021. “These differences are linked to the fact that on the French-speaking, there was already a individualized screening practiceunlike Flanders, before regional programs were put in place. The regional program is used more in Flanders than in Wallonia or Brussels, who turn to their own doctor,” explains Doctor Burrion.
And the Cancer Foundation insists, particularly during this period of Pink October, on the importance of regularly self-exam breasts by palpation.
However, Belgium is not “ not that good a student », Tempers Professor François Duhoux, oncologist at the Saint-Luc university clinics. “One in two women affected by screening will not do so. Awareness campaigns do not reach part of the population,” he regrets. Furthermore, better screening does not necessarily mean more incidence. “In countries where screening is better, like the Nordic countries, there are fewer breast cancers,” he says.
We must also look at the causes. “Belgium has an aging population,” explains Véronique Le Ray, and we know that the risk of developing breast cancer increases with age. In Belgium, 81% of women diagnosed are aged over 50. The average age of the Belgian population is 42 years, according to Stabel.
“Lifestyle, being overweight, a sedentary lifestyle, having children late, alcohol consumption, are risk factors present in Belgium, but as elsewhere in Europe”, lists the director of the Foundation. against cancer. “But the combination of these three factors – screening, lifestyle, and aging of the population – can explain the high rate of breast cancer.
There are also environmental factors (pollution, chemicals, etc.), but “we cannot pinpoint which ones today. Whether it is linked to what we eat or what we breathe, we do not yet know,” explains Professor Duhoux. In short, there are “so many factors that it’s difficult to find a culprit for breast cancer,” he summarizes.
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