The National Cancer Institute 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.Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States and worldwide (excluding skin cancer). In 2007, it is estimated that 240,510 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed among women in the United States: 178,480 invasive breast cancers and 62,030 cases of in situ breast cancer (of which, 85% will be ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)).
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the U.S, after lung cancer. Approximately 40,460 women in the U.S. will die from the disease in 2007. Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for U.S. women between the ages of 20 and 59, and the leading cause of cancer death for women worldwide.
Mammography screening does not prevent or cure breast cancer. However, it may detect the disease before symptoms occur.
All women are at risk for breast cancer. About 90-95% 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, genetic factors, family history of breast or ovarian cancer, long menstrual history, nulliparity (having no children), older than 30 years of age at first full-term pregnancy, daily alcohol consumption, use of combined postmenopausal hormone therapy (PHT), postmenopausal obesity, and ionizing radiation. Factors that decrease a woman's risk of breast cancer include breast-feeding and physical activity (exercise).
Visit http://www.stopbreastcancer.org/bin/index.asp?strid=427&depid=9&btnid=2 to see more facts about breast cancer.
--National Breast Cancer Coalition
Grass Roots Advocacy in Action
Grass Roots Advocacy in Action
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