Breast Cancer Statistics

National Statistics

It is estimated that 226,870 women will be diagnosed with and 39,510 women will die of cancer of the breast in 2012.[1]
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, excluding cancers of the skin, accounting for nearly 33% cancers diagnosed in US women. Breast cancer occurs in men as well, accounting for 1% of all breast cancer diagnoses.[2]
Based on rates from 2007-2009, 12.38% of women born today will be diagnosed with cancer of the breast at some time during their lifetime. This number can also be expressed as 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with cancer of the breast during their lifetime.[3]
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women, behind lung cancer. In 2011, approximately 39,520 women and 450 men are expected to die from breast cancer.[4]
On January 1, 2009, in the United States there were approximately 2,747,459 women alive who had a history of cancer of the breast.[5]
Every woman is at risk for breast cancer. More than 50% of breast cancers occur in women who have no identifiable risk factors other than age.[6]

Massachusetts Statistics

Massachusetts has the highest incidence rate of breast cancer in the United States based on 2008 statistics.[7]
From 2004 to 2008, invasive breast cancer was the most common type of newly diagnosed cancer among Massachusetts females, accounting for 28.5% of new cancers among females. [8]
The breast cancer incidence rate in Massachusetts increased from 133.5 cases per 100,000 females in2004 to 139.2 cases per 100,000 in 2008 (which is the latest data available). This is not a statistically significant increase (i.e. this could be caused by chance).[9]
By county, rates of breast cancer range in MA from a low of 120.2 in Suffolk County (Boston area) to a high of 152.1 in Dukes County (Martha’s Vineyard). The highest rates in MA are on Cape Cod (Dukes,Nantucket, and Barnstable Counties) and slightly lower rates are found in Middlesex, Hampshire, Norfolk, and Franklin Counties.[10]
National data for 2008 (which is the latest data available) reports an incidence rate for breast cancer at 139.5 per 100,000 women in MA compared to an average rate of 121.9 for the U.S. as a whole. MA is in the top quartile of incidence for breast cancer in the U.S., a group that includes, Massachusetts,Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Washington, Alaska, Maryland, and New Jersey.[11]

Causes of Breast Cancer

Many risk factors for breast cancer are related to prolonged exposure to estrogen and other hormones that play a role in a woman’s menstrual cycle. These risk factors include early menarche, late menopause, having children late in life, never bearing children, and never breastfeeding.[12]
According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 100,000 chemicals are in use today in the United States. Less than 10 percent of these chemicals have been tested for their effects on human health.[13]
About 5-10% of breast cancers can be linked to gene mutations (abnormal changes) inherited from one’s mother or father. About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer.[14]

REFERENCES

[1] http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html

[2] American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Facts and Figures 2011-2012

[3] State Cancer Profiles http://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/incidencerates

[4] American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Facts and Figures 2011-2012

[5] http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html

[6]. http://bcaction.org/index.php?page=facts http://bcaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/The-Facts-and-Nothing-but-the-Facts.pdf

[7] http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html

[8] Cancer Incidence And Mortality In Massachusetts 2004-2008: Statewide Report, Mass. Dept. ofPublic Health http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/cancer/registry-statewide-04-08-report.pdf

[9] Cancer Incidence And Mortality In Massachusetts 2004-2008: Statewide Report, Mass. Dept. ofPublic Health http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/cancer/registry-statewide-04-08-report.pdf

[10] Cancer Incidence And Mortality In Massachusetts 2004-2008: Statewide Report, Mass. Dept. ofPublic Health http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/cancer/registry-statewide-04-08-report.pdf

[11] Incidence data are provided by the National Program of Cancer Registries Cancer Surveillance System(NPCR-CSS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by the National Cancer Institute’sSurveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program.http://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/cgi-bin/quickprofiles/profile.pl?00&055.

[12] Silent Spring Institute. Risk Factors for Breast Cancer. http://www.silentspring.org/faqs/risk-factors-breast-cancer

[13] National Cancer Institute (2003). Cancer and the environment: What you need to know, what you can do. National Institutes of Health.

[14] http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc/statistics.jsp

Updated April 2012