Incidence of breast cancer in Italy: mastectomies and quadrantectomies performed between 2000 and 2005

We analyzed the national hospitalizations database at the Ministry of Health to calculate the number of major surgeries in Italian women (mastectomies and quadrantectomies) due to breast cancer between 2000 and 2005, overall and by age groups (<44, 45–64, 65–74 and ≥ 75 years old).Over the six years examined, an overall number of 100,745 mastectomies and 168,147 quadrantectomies were performed. A total of 41,608 major surgeries due to breast cancer were performed in the year 2000 and this number rose to 47,200 in 2005, with a 13.4% increase over six years.by analyzing the hospitalizations database concerning major breast surgery, incidence of breast cancer in Italy was found to be 26.5% higher than the official estimations which have been computed using statistical models (namely 47,200 vs. 37,300 cases in year 2005).Women in Italy account for 30 out of 59 million inhabitants, thus representing more than 50% of the entire population [1]. According to the Italian National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT), women's life expectancy at birth increased by a rate of 4 months per year from 1950 to 2002, reaching 86.6 years. This value is estimated to rise up to 87.4 years by 2010 [1]. After cardiovascular diseases, tumors represent the first cause of death among women in Italy, each year killing 119 and 38 per 10,000 women in the 55–74 and ≥ 75 age groups, respectively [2,3]. Breast cancer is the leading tumor among women in Italy [1]. The risk of developing breast cancer is related to a number of factors including the events of reproductive life and lifestyle factors that modify endogenous levels of sex hormones [4]. Diet has been also found to play an important role in the etiology of breast cancer [5]. Official data from the Italian Ministry of Health have estimated the total breast cancer incidence at 37,300 new cases in year 2005, with an overall prevalence of 416,000 cases (women living with the cancer) [6]. The incidence per age group was estimated to exceed 100 new