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Empower
Breast cancer now strikes more women in the world than any other type of cancer. This year, an estimated 1,150,000 women worldwide will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and 411,000 women will die from the disease.
In the past 50 years, the lifetime risk of breast cancer has nearly tripled in the United States. In the 1960s, a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer was 1
in 20. In the year 2005, the risk is 1 in 7.
In 2005, an estimated 211,300 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected in the United States. An estimated 40,000 will die from breast cancer in this year alone. In addition to invasive breast cancer, 55,700 new cases of in situ breast cancer (cancer that has not invaded surrounding tissue) are expected to occur during 2003. Approximately 85 percent of these cases will be ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).
Since 1987, female breast cancer rates have increased by 0.5 percent each year in the United States.
Between 1975 and 2000, in situ breast cancer incidence rates increased five times faster than the rates of invasive breast cancer, primarily due to increased
mammography screening.
Although breast cancer rarely occurs in men, incidence has increased 25 percent over the past 25 years. This year, it is estimated that 1,690 men in the
United State will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
All Women are at Risk
An estimated 3 million women in the United States today are living with breast cancer. Two million have been diagnosed with the disease and one million have
the disease but do not know it yet.
Every three minutes a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer.
-The American Cancer Society
In 2006, an estimated 212,920 people were expected to be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer - 1,720 of them were men.*
-The American Cancer Society
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide, excluding cancers of the skin. Breast cancer accounts for one of every three cancer
diagnoses in U.S. women.
Breast Cancer is Life-Threatening
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women aged 20 to 59. Young women with breast cancer face unique issues: delayed diagnosis, aggressive disease, fertility and pregnancy issues and possibly early menopause. Delayed diagnosis and more aggressive tumors result in higher mortality rates in young women. Most research on breast cancer is focused on women who are 45 or older, thus young women are excluded from this research.
The incidence and death rate of breast cancer increase with age. U.S. women aged 40 years and older accounted for 94 percent of all new breast cancer
cases and 84 percent of breast cancer deaths from 1996 to 2000.
There is no way to predict whether or how long any individual woman will survive after a diagnosis of breast cancer. The five-year survival rate for
localized breast cancer is 98 percent, for cancer that has spread regionally 80 percent and for distant metastatic cancer 26 percent. At least 77 percent
of all women survive 10 years after diagnosis, but 48 percent, almost half, will die from breast cancer within 20 years of diagnosis.
African American women have the highest death rate from breast cancer (14 percent higher than white women), although white women have the highest
incidence of breast cancer (12 percent higher than African American women). Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Latinas; an
estimated 11,000 Latinas were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. Unlike white women, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among Latinas.
Women who immigrate to the United States from Asia experience an 80 percent increase in their breast cancer risk in one generation. One generation later,
the rate for their daughters approaches that of women born in the United State.
The Environmental Links to Breast Cancer
All women are at risk for breast cancer, regardless of hereditary factors. In fact, 85 to 90 percent of breast cancer incidences cannot be explained by inherited genetic predisposition. Other known risk factors and personal characteristics include personal or family history of breast cancer, high breast tissue density, earlier onset of menstruation (12 years or younger), later menopause (55 years or older), late first-term pregnancy (30 years or older), no children or no breast-feeding, early or recent use of oral contraceptives, more than four years use of hormone replacement therapy, post-menopausal obesity, alcohol consumption, exposures to secondhand cigarette smoke and exposure to ionizing radiation.
When all known risk factors and characteristics are added together including genetics and family history, as much as 50 percent of breast cancer cases remain
unexplained.
Although environmental exposures are not generally cited as risk factors for the disease (except for diet, pharmaceuticals and radiation), a substantial
and growing body of evidence indicates that exposures to certain toxic chemicals and hormone-mimicking compounds contribute to the development of breast cancer.
Detection Is Not Prevention
Mammography does not prevent breast cancer, but the earlier breast cancer is detected by self-exam or mammography and followed by appropriate treatment, the greater the chance of survival. However, mammograms fail to detect as much as 20 percent of breast cancer in women over 50, and as much as 40 percent in younger women.
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