A systematic survey of breast cancer incidence in the département of Rhône, France

A systematic survey of all centres of diagnosis and care of breast cancer patients in the Rhône “département” of France was carried out to evaluate, for the year 1985, the incidence rate of breast cancer in an urban, industrialised part of France not covered by a cancer registry. Two hundred and fifty seven institutions or individuals were involved, covering the public and private sectors in the Rhône département, but also in neighbouring cities and elsewhere in France, which also enabled a search to be carried out for cases diagnosed or treated outside the département. Altogether, over this 1-year period, 801 new cases were identified (791 women and 10 men). This study demonstrated a high incidence of female breast cancer (80.5 new cases per 100 000 woman-years, standardised to the world population) which was particularly marked among women aged 40–60. This incidence is higher than that described by the cancer registry of the neighbouring département of Isère, but is close to the incidence found in Geneva. Results also concur with the relatively high mortality rate from breast cancer observed in the Rhône département.