The breast cancer is expected to become the most prevalent cancer afflicting the Chinese women in 20 years, warned senior experts. Also, the average age of Chinese patients is nearly 49 years ago, 10 tens younger than their Western counterparts, said He Jie, president of the Cancer Institute & Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

"Among them, a big proportion of them are from eastern and southern areas with better economy and white collar workers are more prone to the disease than labor workers," he said at an awareness raising event held by Roche China and Sohu Health.

Currently, China has 470,000 breast cancer patients on the mainland and only 20 percent of them were diagnosed at early stage, which could secure good treatment effect, said Xu Binghe, deputy director of the internal medicine department of the hospital.

He urged the general public to raise awareness and go for regular screening while reaching 40 years old to strive for early detection and treatment.

In US, 80 percent of the breast cancer patients were diagnosed at early stage, he said.

"We usually recommend these patients take breast conservative operation," he added.

In China, less than 10 percent of patients on average got such surgeries due to a low rate of early diagnosis and misunderstanding that thorough removal is safer, according to Xu.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 30 percent of cancers can be prevented by lifestyle changes.

Prevention tips include low-fat diet, regular exercises, no excessive alcohol consumption, and regular screenings after getting 40 years old.