(123rf)
(123rf)

The number of female patients treated for breast cancer has increased steadily since 2015, with last year's figures up by 95.7 percent compared to nine years earlier.

A total of 307,910 women were treated for breast cancer in 2024, according to a report by Rep. Kim Ye-ji of the main opposition People Power Party, based on data from the National Health Insurance Service. The annual figure reached 157,373 in 2015 and has continued to increase each year.

Data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare showed that the number of women newly diagnosed with the disease went from 19,402 in 2015 to 29,391 in 2022.

Over half of the breast cancer patients were middle-aged, with 34.6 percent in their 50s and 20 percent in their 40s. Some 27.7 percent were in their 60s, 11.2 percent in their 70s, 3.3 percent in their 30s, 2.8 percent in their 80s, and 0.3 percent were in their 20s.

Breast cancer, which refers to when abnormal breast cells grow out of control and form tumors, was the most common cancer in women in 157 countries in 2022, according to the World Health Organization. It was also the most common cancer for Korean women, according to the 2022 data from the National Cancer Center, accounting for 21.8 percent of cancers occuring in women.

South Korea's national health check-up covers a biennial mammography for women aged 40 and up. But Kim said it is difficult to detect cancer in dense breast tissue, suggesting that the state-financed check-up should include ultrasonography.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com