Shanghai public health bureau show that the ratio of breast cancer victims per 100,000 women almost tripled from 1992 to 2002.
What's more, although the most likely age of contracting breast cancer is between 35 and 45, hospital reports nationwide are showing that more and more women in their late 20s and early 30s are falling victim to the disease.
"Action should be taken as soon as possible because in these cases, time really does mean life for women," Ha said on the eve of International Women's Day.
Of all cancers, breast cancer emerged as the No 1 killer of Chinese women as early as 1992, although people have begun to pay closer attention only in the past few years, according to Sun Qiang, director of a research centre on breast diseases at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
But there are no national figures on its occurrence, he said.
According to Shanghai public health bureau statistics, for every 100,000 women in the municipality, 18 women contracted the disease in 1992, 38 in 1997 and 52 in 2002.
As for the rapid increase in the incidence of cancer, Sun attributed it primarily to rising pressure in urban women's lives, to the proportion of protein and fat in their diets and to environmental pollution.
Source: China Daily