The National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) is a grassroots organization dedicated to ending breast cancer through action and advocacy. NBCC members are committed to reaching this difficult goal. Following are some statistics that speak to the need to end this deadly disease:

• The National Cancer Institute estimates that a woman in the United States has a 1 in 8 chance of developing invasive breast cancer during her lifetime. This risk was about 1 in 11 in 1975. 
  
• More women in the United States are living with breast cancer than any other cancer (excluding skin cancer). Approximately 3 million women in the U.S. are living with breast cancer: about 2.3 million have been diagnosed with the disease and an estimated 1 million do not yet know they have the disease.ⁱ
• Excluding skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States. In 2009, it is estimated that 254,650 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed among women in the US: 192,370 invasive breast cancers and 62,280 cases of in situ breast cancer (of which 85% will be ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)). In 2009, approximately 1,910 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among U.S men.ⁱ ,
  
• The incidence of breast cancer has steadily declined from 1999 to 2005.  It is believed that a drop in the use of hormone replacement therapy is responsible for the decline, but there are other possible reasons as well, and these are being studied.ⁱⁱⁱ
• Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the U.S, after lung cancer. Approximately 40,170 women and 440 men in the U.S. will die from the disease in 2009. 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.ⁱⁱⁱ
• According to the SEER survival data from 1988 to 2005, approximately 12% of women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer die from the disease within five years; at ten years, 20% will have died. The most recent available statistics show that 40% of all women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer died from the disease within 20 years.
  
• Older women are much more likely to get breast cancer than younger women. Most breast cancers (about 80%) occur in women ages 50 and older. About 5% 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.ⁱⁱⁱ ,
  
• Combining all age groups, white (non-Hispanic) women are more likely to develop breast cancer than black women. However, black women are more likely to die of breast cancer than white women.ⁱ
• Between 1994 and 2003, the mortality rate for women of all races combined declined by 2.4% annually. In white women, breast cancer mortality declined by 2.5% annually. In black women, mortality declined by 1.4% annually during the same period.v
  Mortality has declined faster for women under the age of 50 (by 3.2% annually), regardless of race/ethnicity.ⁱⁱⁱ
• The current methods of treatment in use in the United States are surgery (mastectomy and lumpectomy), radiation, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, and biologic therapy (e.g. monoclonal antibody therapy).
• Mammography screening does not prevent or cure breast cancer. However, it may detect the disease before symptoms occur. Breast cancer tumors can exist for six to ten years before they grow large enough to be detected by mammography.
• Mammography is less effective in younger women. In the overall population, digital mammography does not perform better than traditional film mammography. However, among younger women, digital mammography has been reported to detect more breast cancers than film mammography. There are no studies to establish whether screening with digital mammography decreases breast cancer mortality.
• All women are at risk for breast cancer. Only 5-10% have inherited a mutation in the known breast cancer genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2).ⁱ ,
  
• 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).iii Recently, higher breast density has been show to be strongly associated with the risk of breast cancer. It was found that breast cancer rate was almost four times greater in those with extremely dense breast tissue as opposed to those with fatty breast tissue. It is important to remember that since mammography is less sensitive in detecting breast cancer for dense breasts, the effect of breast density may be somewhat underestimated.ⁱ
• Although scientists have discovered some risk factors for breast cancer, the known risk factors account for only a small percentage (~30%) of breast cancer cases. There are few interventions with limited value that reduce risk, and none of them prevent breast cancer.

Footnotes

ⁱBarlow WE, White E, Ballard-Barbash R, et al. Prospective Breast Cancer Risk Prediction Model for Women Undergoing Screening Mammography. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2006;98:1204-1214.

ⁱⁱFeuer EJ, Wun LM, Boring CC, et al. The Lifetime Risk of Developing Breast Cancer . J Natl Cancer Inst 1993 Jun 2; 85(11): 892-7.

ⁱⁱⁱAmerican Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2008. Atlanta, GA, 2009.

^ivThis statistic was obtained by studying women who were diagnosed with breast cancer 20 years ago. It is impossible to know what the 20-year breast cancer survival rate will be for women diagnosed today.

^vRies LAG, Eisner MP, Kosary CL, et al. (eds). SEER Fast Stats: Breast Cancer 1994-2003 . National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, 2006.

^viNational Cancer Institute. Probability of breast cancer in American women. Updated October 2006. Fact Sheet 5.6.