Breast Cancer Facts
• The American Cancer Society estimates that a woman in the United States has a one in eight chance of developing invasive breast cancer during her lifetime. This risk was about one in 11 in 1975.
• Every three minutes a woman in the U.S.A. is diagnosed with breast cancer (www.breastcancer.org).
• One of every three cancer diagnoses is in women. In 2006, it is estimated that 274,900 Senographe 2000D - Press Kit CPK-0173-05.07-EN-US new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed among women in the United States: 212,920 invasive breast cancers and 61,980 cases of in situ breast cancer (of which, 85 percent will be ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).1
• Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in the U.S.A. and is the leading cause of death among women aged 40 to 49.
• Approximately 12 percent of women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer die from the disease within five years; at 10 years, 20 percent will have died. The most recent available statistics show that 40 percent of all women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer died from the disease within 20 years.2
• As screening programs have become more common, more cases of breast cancer are being detected in the earlier stages of disease, when they are more easily and successfully treated. Since the early 1980s, diagnoses of early-stage cancer and precancerous conditions have increased appreciably, while diagnoses of cases at the advanced stages have remained stable or dropped slightly.
• Older women are much more likely to get breast cancer than younger women. Most breast cancers – about 77 percent – occur in women ages 50 and older. About five percent of all breast cancer cases occur in women under the age of 40. However, younger women who get breast cancer have a lower survival rate than older women who get breast cancer.
• Combining all age groups, white (non-Hispanic) women are more likely to develop breast cancer than black women. However, African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer than white women.
• Between 1990 and 2002, the mortality rate for women of all races combined declined by 2.3 percent annually. In white women, breast cancer mortality declined by 2.4 percent annually. In African-American women, mortality declined by 1.0 percent annually during the same period.4
• The current methods of treatment in use in the United States are: surgery (mastectomy and lumpectomy), radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and biologic therapy (e.g., monoclonal antibody therapy).
• Mammography screening is the best tool for detecting breast cancer at an early, treatable stage in women age 40 and older. A screening mammogram is a simple, low-dose X-ray procedure that can reveal breast cancer at its earliest stage, up to two years before it is large enough to be felt.
• All women are at risk for breast cancer. About 90 percent of women who develop breast cancer do not have a family history of the disease.
• Factors that increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer include: older age, earlier age at first period, later age at menopause, nulliparity (having no children), later age at first full-term pregnancy, daily alcohol consumption, use of hormonal replacement therapy, post-menopausal obesity, ionizing radiation, genetic factors, and family history of breast or ovarian cancer. Factors that decrease a woman’s risk of breast cancer include: breastfeeding and physical activity (exercise).
• Although scientists have discovered some risk factors for breast cancer, the known risk factors account for only a small percentage (~ 30 percent) of breast cancer cases. There are no proven interventions to prevent breast cancer and there is no cure.
• (Information courtesy of the National Breast Cancer Coalition and the Komen Foundation, 2006)
