Facts About Breast Cancer in the United States: Year 2000

From the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund - http://www.natbcc.org/

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in America, excluding skin cancers.An estimated 3 million women in the U.S. are living with breast cancer: 2 million who have been diagnosed and an estimated 1 million who do not yet know they have the disease.

In 2000, an estimated 225,400 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed among women in the United States; 182,800 invasive breast cancers and 42,600 in situ cases. In 1999, approximately 215,000 new cases of invasive and in situ breast cancer were diagnosed.Approximately 40,000 women in the U.S. die from the disease each year.*

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States and worldwide (excluding skin cancer). It is also the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the U.S. and the leading cause of cancer death for women worldwide.

One out of eight women in the United States will develop breast cancer in her lifetime - a risk that was one out of 14 in 1960.This year, a new case will be diagnosed every three minutes, and a woman will die from breast cancer every 12 minutes.

Of all women diagnosed with breast cancer, 48% will die from it within 20 years. In other words, almost half of all women diagnosed with breast cancer will eventually die from the disease.

Combining all age groups, Caucasian (non-Hispanic) women are more likely to develop breast cancer than African-American women. However, African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer than are Caucasian women.

African-American women have a higher breast cancer mortality rate at every age, and a lower survival rate than Caucasian women. Nearly half of all African-American women diagnosed with breast cancer (47%) will die from the disease within 10 years.

Before the 1990's, breast cancer mortality rates for all women combined had been about the same for nearly 4 decades. Mortality from breast cancer has declined slightly during the 1990's in Caucasian and Hispanic women, but not in African-American women.

The current methods of treatment in use in the United States are: surgery (mastectomy, lumpectomy,) radiation and systemic therapy (chemotherapy, hormone therapy, monoclonal antibody therapy.)

Mammography does not prevent or cure breast cancer; it can only detect it "early." Early detection followed by treatment increases the odds of survival. However, tumors can exist for six to ten years before they grow large enough to be detected by mammography. In addition, mammography is less effective in younger women than in older women.

All women are at risk for breast cancer. Factors that increase a woman's risk include: older age, earlier age at menarche, later age at menopause, nulliparity (having no children), later age at first full-term pregnancy, alcohol consumption, long-term use of hormonal replacement therapy, oral contraceptive use, postmenopausal obesity, low physical activity, ionizing radiation, genetic factors, and family history of breast or ovarian cancer.

We do not know how to cure or prevent breast cancer. Although scientists have discovered some risk factors for breast cancer, most factors account for only small increases in a person’s chances of developing breast cancer.  In addition, most of the known risk factors for breast cancer are highly prevalent in many societies and are not easily modified

Help us change these statistics! Get involved by joining the National Breast Cancer Coalition. Contact us at 1-800-622-2838 or see our website at www.stopbreastcancer.org.

* In 2000, approximately 1,400 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among men in the United States.  Approximately 400 men in the U.S. will die from the disease.

References:

American Cancer Society. Breast Cancer Facts and Figures 1999-2000. Atlanta, GA, 2000.

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Pisani P, Parkin DM, Bray F, Ferlay J. Estimates of the worldwide mortality from 25 cancers in 1990. Int J Cancer 1999;83:18-29.

Ries LA, Kosary CL, Hankey BF, Miller BA, Edwards BK (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1973-1996. National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD. 1999.

Rockhill B, Weinberg CR, Newman B. Population attributable fraction estimation for established breast cancer risk factors: considering the issues of high prevalence and unmodifiability. Am J Epidemiol 1998;147:826-33.

Wingo PA, Ries LA, Parker SL, Heath CW Jr. Long-term cancer patient survival in the United States. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1998;7(4):271-82.

Wingo PA, Ries LA, Giovino GA, et al. Annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, 1973-1996, with a special section on lung cancer and tobacco smoking. J Natl Cancer Inst 1999;91:675-90.