Published online Apr 24, 2020. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v11.i4.217
Peer-review started: December 18, 2019
First decision: December 25, 2019
Revised: March 12, 2020
Accepted: March 26, 2020
Article in press: March 26, 2020
Published online: April 24, 2020
Processing time: 125 Days and 23.9 Hours
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common female cancer worldwide and it is well established that lifestyle factors such as physical inactivity and obesity are attributed to most cancers. In the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCCCs), the BC incidence rate has been increasing over the past two decades and the prevalence of obesity and physical inactivity is very high.
BC in the GCCCs is under studied and more research is required to increase BC awareness and decrease the disease burden. Furthermore, if one can highlight the preventable lifestyle factors contributing to this incline in BC incidence public health actions can be made to address the issue and reduce the cases.
This study aimed to (1) establish an increase in BC incidence over the past two decades; (2) determine whether there has been a rise in obesity and physical inactivity; and (3) detect an association between obesity and physical inactivity individually as risk factors for BC in the GCCCs.
A mixed methods approach was used, which included a systematic review of the literature and obtaining data from various cancer registries and databases.
This study found that BC was the top malignancy within the GCCCs and the incidence has been increasing at a significant rate over the past two decades. Obesity and physical inactivity were shown to be very prevalent there and exceeded the number seen in the United Kingdom. However, there was insufficient evidence to suggest that there is a correlation between these preventable risk factors and BC in the GCC. Furthermore, this study found that women in the GCCCs tended to be diagnosed at a younger age than women in the United Kingdom.
This research was unable to determine a direct correlation between physical inactivity and obesity individually as risk factors for BC in the GCCCs. However, it did find that both obesity and physical inactivity was very prevalent in all the countries. This study unexpectantly found that women in the GCCCs are being diagnosed at a younger age than women in the United Kingdom, such that many were pre-menopausal at time of diagnosis. It is thought that premenopausal obesity may actually be a protective factor for BC. Therefore, more research to explain the trend in BC incidence is required.
It is clear that BC in the GCCCs is under-researched. It is also evident that obesity and physical inactivity is a major public health concern, not just for cancer but for many other medical conditions. This study found that the majority of women in the GCCCs appeared to be diagnosed before they reached menopause. Therefore, if this study was to be repeated, the literature search could be stratified according to menopausal status or age to determine whether obesity in premenopausal women increases or decreases the risk.