Although there have been positive health benefits associated with
Thailand’s rapid socio-economic development, some negative health
consequences of Western-style disease patterns are also emerging.
Breast cancer is one example of this. InWestern terms breast cancer is
still relatively uncommon inThaiwomen (age-standardised incidence
rate estimated at 20.5/100000 women1), but incidence has increased
significantly over the last decade.2 There is also some evidence of
regional variation, or at least urban excess with, for example, the
Bangkok cancer registry recording incidence rates around twice those
of the registries in the north-east of the country.1