Malta registered the largest increase in breast cancer screening in the EU over 10 years, according to a recent Eurostat study.

Between 2011 and 2021, Malta’s breast cancer screening rate rose by more than half, the largest gain seen in the EU.

While in 2011, the country registered a screening rate of 51%, a decade later this had risen to 78%.

The breast cancer screening rate is of women between 50 and 69 who received a mammogram within the previous two years.

In Malta, around 300 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.

The gain took Malta from 15th place in the EU to fourth place, with only Denmark, Finland and Sweden registering higher screening rates of 83%, 82% and 80% respectively.

The lowest rates in 2021 were recorded in Bulgaria (21%), Cyprus (25%) and Slovakia (26%). “Compared with 2011, breast cancer screening rates increased in six of the 20 EU countries with available data, with the largest increases observed in Malta, Lithuania and Estonia”, the report said.

More than double this number of countries saw their screening rates decrease over the same period, the report noted, with rates lowering in 13 of the 20 countries.

According to the report, breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer and a leading cause of death amongst the female population.

While preventative measures are important for reducing the severity of the disease, the COVID-19 pandemic had a “great impact” on preventative healthcare and screening programmes, the report said.

In March, Times of Malta reported that women were left waiting up to a year for a mammogram due to a backlog caused by the pandemic, after the breast screening clinic was closed for three months during 2020.

Figures presented in Parliament showed the number of breast screenings reduced from nearly 13,300 to 7,300 between 2019 and 2020.