Breast cancer mortality among Brazilian indigenous women

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate mortality from breast cancer in Indigenous women in Brazil, in 2000 and 2010. Methods: This was a retrospective study, by means of collecting the number of breast cancer deaths among Brazilian women in the years 2000 and 2010. Data were obtained from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics and Mortality Information System. The crude mortality rates were calculated and the risk ratio (RR) of mortality observed among white women and indigenous women were calculated. It was used a confidence interval of 95% (CI95%). For the χ2 test with Yates correction, p<0.05 were considered significant. Results: The crude mortality rate for indigenous women was 4.72/100,000 in 2000 and 2.23/100,000 in 2010. In the distribution by geographical regions, it was observed that out of 10 deaths recorded in 2000, eight occurred in the Southeast Region. In 2010, among the five reported deaths, three occurred in the North Region. Brazilian indigenous women had lower risk of breast cancer mortality compared to white women, both in 2000 (RR: 0.25; 95%CI 0.138–0.47; p<0.001) and in 2010 (RR: 0.094, 95%CI 0.03–0.22; p<0.001). Conclusion: The mortality rate from breast cancer among indigenous women in Brazil was significantly lower than in white women, possibly due to ethnic, geographic and socio-cultural variations. This data can contribute to the development of strategies aimed at controlling the breast cancer in Brazil’s indigenous population.