A new report from the American Cancer Society shows that breast cancer death rates are declining in the United States. While this is a relief, the report also warns that breast cancer rates are rising in young women and that disparities between racial groups persist.
according to ReportBreast cancer rates increased by 1% per year from 2012 to 2021, with an even greater increase (1.4%) in women under 50 years of age. However, breast cancer death rates have dropped by 44% over the past three decades.
“If we look back over the past decade or so, we see that breast cancer rates have increased by about 1% year-on-year, and the steepness of that increase does not affect all women equally,” explain Karen Knudsen, executive director of the American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
“Breast cancer diagnosis rates are slightly higher in women under 50 than in women over 50. These are things we are looking at and trying to understand,” Knudsen said.
The researchers analyzed breast cancer incidence and mortality data from the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 1975.
Studies indicate that black women are more likely to develop breast cancer and have a 38% higher mortality rate than white women, although they are 5% less likely to develop breast cancer.
“If you look closely at the mortality data, you'll see that this is really driven by younger women. If you look at black women between the ages of 20 and 29, they are twice as likely to die from breast cancer as their white colleagues,” U.S. Dr. William Dahut, Chief Scientific Officer, Cancer Society, Tell ABC News.
Black women have the highest mortality rate, about 27 deaths per 100,000 women, while the Asian American and Pacific Islander community has a breast cancer death rate of about 12 deaths per 100,000 women. However, the Asian and Pacific Islander community has experienced the fastest annual increases in breast cancer rates, with rates rising 2.7% among women under 50 years old and 2.5% among women 50 years and older.
Researchers also found some significant geographic differences in breast cancer statistics. The incidence of the disease varies widely, with Nevada reporting 113 cases per 100,000 women and North Carolina having a much higher rate of approximately 143 cases per 100,000 women. Breast cancer death rates also vary by region, with about 15 breast cancer deaths per 100,000 women in Massachusetts, compared to about 23 per 100,000 women in Mississippi and 23 per 100,000 in the District of Columbia. 24 people.