Is it possible to decrease breast cancer mortality in Chile? An analytical study

This analytical study is aimed to analyze breast cancer mortality in the metropolitan region of Santiago serving something more than 6,000,000 people. The hypothesis is that it is possible to decrease breast cancer mortality in Chile (16 million inhabitants) based on the experience of the metropolitan south orient health service (SSMSO) that represents 10% of the Chilean population. A comparative analysis of crude and age-adjusted mortality rates for breast cancer in the six metropolitan health services is produced showing the lowest crude and age-adjusted mortality rate in the SSMSO besides to be lower than the mortality rate for Chile. Furthermore the annual proportions of advanced (III and IV) and incipient breast cancers (in situ and I) are established for the SSMSO showing a proportional decrease of advanced stages and a relevant increase of the incipient ones between 1994 and 2007. The authors think that since the population of the metropolitan region represents more than 40% of the Chilean population and includes all the socio economic strata the results observed in the SSMSO, the biggest health service in the region besides having both rural and urban districts, may be considered representative for the country as a whole. The original hypothesis has been thus confirmed: it is possible to decrease breast cancer mortality in Chile.