The Problem Of Breast Cancer Incidence Rates Rising

The Problem of Breast Cancer Incidence Rates Rising Problem: Breast Cancer Incidence Rates have been on the rise since 1975 and so has the cost of treatment which has come with it. (Preventative) Overall the cost of all of the cancers to the UK currently is  £15.8billion with half of that going towards treatment. Since 1975, the European female breast cancer incidence rate has increased by 170% per 1000 people over the course of 35 years until 2010 which means that each person with an occurrence of breast cancer has had to have treatment in order to remove the cancerous cells from the body. This costs money to both the UK government through treatment on the NHS and the people, through private health care. Background Information†¦show more content†¦In a normal cell once a ribosome has reached a â€Å"stop† code on the mRNA, the protein will stop being formed. In an already mutated cell, that â€Å"stop† code will never be reached because it does not exist. This means that cell division continue, creating more of the â€Å"abnormal cells† which will also then produce clones of themselves resulting in an accelerated growth rate. The longer the cells grow, the more advanced the cancer gets thus a more expensive treatment is needed and chances of survival decreases. This is the problem. Breast cancer accounts for 22.9% of cancers, which excludes melanomas, in females (Global) which costs approximately an estimated total of $3.8billion where $1.8 billion of that represents treatment costs. This money can be saved by reducing the rate at which people get breast cancer (incidence rate) by using breast cancer prevention methods, such as preventative hormonal drugs like Tamoxifen or Raloxifene, or screening for a gene associated with Breast Cancer. Although the mortality rate of breast cancer has decreased since 1989 by 40% it still costs person  £3731 on average to cover funeral costs . This adds to personal costs too as well as the government, which in the UK is the NHS. So, on the whole, the higher incidence rate, the higher the long term costs. As can be seen from the graph, since 1989, breast cancer mortality rates have fallen by 0.9 cases per year on average. This still results in approximately