Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. The aim of this study is to describe the development of breast cancer mortality and its relation with the implementation of population screening programs in Spain and its Autonomous Communities (AC) from 1980 to 2005.
Methods: A breast cancer mortality trends analysis was done. We used the data from mortality of Ministry of Health and Social Policies. We calculated crude, standardized, specific and truncated mortality rates per 100,000 women. Trend analysis was done using a Joinpoint Regression Model to compute the Annual Percentage Change (APC).
Results: 131746 people died from breast cancer in Spain between 1980 and 2005. In Spain, mortality rates increased until 1992, when there was a change in the trend (APC = -0.1, -0.9, -0.8 for standard, specific and truncated rates respectively),
Conclusions: Mortality from breast cancer in women in Spain indicates a general downward trend from 1992 to 2005 that was different among the different age groups. This downward trend was also observed in all the AC with some variability in the year that change occurs.