Developing countries have limited
healthcare resources and use different
strategies to
diagnose breast cancer. Most of the
population depends on the public
healthcare system, which
affects the
diagnosis of the
tumor. Thus, the
indicators observed in
developed countries cannot be directly compared with those observed in
developing countries because the
healthcare infrastructures in
developing countries are deficient. The aim of this study was to evaluate
breast cancer screening strategies and
indicators in
developing countries. A
systematic review and the
Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, Timing, and Setting
methodology were performed to identify possible
indicators of presentation at
diagnosis and the methodologies used in
developing countries. We searched
PubMed for the terms “
Breast Cancer” or “
Breast Cancer Screening” and “
Developing Country” or “
Developing Countries”. In all, 1,149 articles were identified. Of these articles, 45 full articles were selected, which allowed us to identify
indicators related to
epidemiology, diagnostic intervention (diagnostic strategy, diagnostic
infrastructure, percentage of
women undergoing
mammography), quality of intervention (presentation of symptoms at
diagnosis,
time to
diagnosis, early stage
disease), comparisons (trend curves, subpopulations at
risk) and
survival among different countries. The identification of these
indicators will improve the
reporting of methodologies used in
developing countries and
will allow us to evaluate improvements in
public health related to
breast cancer.