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Breast Cancer Statistics
The following is adapted from information available from the American
Cancer Society (ACS).
- Excluding the cancer of the skin, breast cancer is the most
common cancer diagnosed among U.S. women, recording for more than 1
in 4 cancers.
- For the past decades, breast cancer has been the second leading
cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer.
- 1 out of 8 American women who live to be 85 years of age will
develop breast cancer, a risk that was one out of 14 in 1960.
- 2 million 4 hundred thousand women living in the United States
have been diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer.
- There is an estimated 182,480 new cases of invasive breast
cancer are expected to be diagnosed in American women during 2008.
Around 1,990 new cases of breast cancer are expected in men.
Furthermore, an estimated 67,770 cases of in situ breast cancer
(both DCIS and LCIS) are expected, with 85 percent being DCIS.
- A projected 40,930 breast cancer deaths are anticipated this
year (40,480 women, 450 men).
- It is very sad to note that the greatest risk factor for
developing breast cancer is gender (female) and the second is age.
In the years 2000-2004, 95 percent of new cases and 97 percent of
breast cancer deaths occurred in women aged 40 and older.
- The risk and probability of developing breast cancer increases
for women whose parent, sibling or child have had the disease.
- It has been currently estimated that 5 percent to 10 percent of
breast cancer cases result from inherited mutations or alterations
in BRCA1 and BRCA2.
- Women who start menstruating before age 12 are at increased risk
of developing breast cancer. If a woman has more menstrual cycles
during her lifetime, her risk of developing breast cancer increases.
- Some risk factors include inherited mutations in the BRCA1 and
BRCA2 genes, a personal or family history of breast cancer, high
breast tissue density, high-dose radiation to the chest wall, long
menstrual history, never having given birth or giving birth for the
first time after age 30, and biopsy-confirmed atypical hyperplasia.
- After the decreasing of 16 percent from 2006 to 2007, the
estimated number of new cases of female invasive breast cancer is
expected to increase slightly in 2008 to 182,460, up from 178,480.
The projected number of new breast cancer cases in men is expected
to continue to decline slightly, with 1,990 new cases in 2008, down
from 2,030 in 2007.
- Female breast cancer incidence rates successively increased for
two decades, but have leveled off since 2001. A possible explanation
for the decrease is that millions of women stopped taking hormone
replacement therapy (HRT) following published research that
indicates a positive link between taking HRT and developing breast
cancer.
- Patients who have private insurance from all racial/ethnic
groups are more likely to be diagnosed with stage I breast cancer
and less likely to be diagnosed with stage III and IV than those who
were uninsured or who had Medicaid insurance.
Though 89 percent of patients with private insurance survived five
years, only 77 percent of uninsured and 75 percent of Medicaid
patients passed the five year mark.
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