Breast Cancer - Statistics

These statistics are from information published by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, a continuing project of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

The SEER Program collects cancer data on a routine basis from designated population-based cancer registries in various areas of the country. Trends in cancer incidence, mortality and patient survival in the United States, as well as many other studies, are derived from this data bank.

Goals of the SEER program are:

> assembling and reporting, on a periodic basis, estimates of cancer incidence and mortality in the United States

> monitoring annual cancer incidence trends to identify unusual changes in specific forms of cancer occurring in population subgroups defined by geographic, demographic, and social characteristics

> providing continuing information on changes over time in the extent of disease at diagnosis, trends in therapy, and associated changes in patient survival

> promoting studies designed to identify factors amenable to cancer control interventions, such as:

a) environmental, occupational, socioeconomic, dietary, and health-related exposures

b) screening practices, early detection, and treatment

c) determinants of the length and quality of patient survival

Breast Cancer Statistics

Statistics on breast cancer:
The following is NCI SEER Program information on breast cancer in the United States from 1973 through 1995.

Breast cancer is still the most common cancer among women, excluding skin cancers.

Death from breast cancer has declined since the early 1990s, primarily due to better breast cancer treatment, increases in breast cancer awareness and screening, and changes in breast cancer risk factors. However:

Breast cancer is the second major cause of death in women (lung cancer is first), and the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 40 and 55.

Among all ages, Caucasian women are slightly more likely than African-American women to develop breast cancer. However, among women younger than 45, African-American women are more likely to develop breast cancer.

Among all ages, African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer.

About 77 percent of women with newly diagnosed breast cancer are over the age of 50. Breast cancer is relatively uncommon in women between the ages of 20 to 24.

Although breast cancer is primarily a disease that affects women, men can also be at risk and should report any change in their breasts to their physicians.

The American Cancer Society estimates for 1999:

About 175,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among women in the United States. An estimated 1,300 cases will be diagnosed among men.

There will be about 43,700 deaths from breast cancer in the United States:

43,300 among women

400 among men

The 5-year survival rate for localized breast cancer is 97 percent. The 10-year survival rate of women diagnosed with breast cancer is 69 percent, and the 15-year survival rate is 15 percent.

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