Breast cancer rates rising among women under 50: study
The incidence of breast cancer is increasing among young women in the US, with notable disparities in mortality across different racial and ethnic groups.
Breast cancer cases among women under 50 in the US continue to rise, with an annual increase of 1.4% between 2012 and 2021. This concerning trend is most pronounced among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women, where the increase has reached 2.5%. Up to 2.7% per annum.
These findings come from the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) latest report, “Breast Cancer Statistics 2024,” which outlines both the increasing incidence and overall trends of breast cancer across the country.
The ACS report, based on extensive data from national cancer registries, finds that breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women after skin cancer.
While the overall death rate has declined by 44% since 1989, preventing more than half a million deaths, this progress is uneven across different racial and ethnic groups. For example, mortality rates for American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women have seen no improvement over the past three decades.
Meanwhile, despite lower incidence rates, the breast cancer death rate among black women is 38% higher than that of white women.
In 2024, an estimated 310,720 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women across the US, with approximately 42,250 deaths expected.
Although breast cancer is rare in men, approximately 2,790 men will be diagnosed this year, and 530 are predicted to die from the disease.
The report highlights the need for better access to early detection and treatment, particularly for women from disadvantaged communities.
Dr. William Dahut, ACS Chief Scientific Officer, emphasized the importance of eliminating disparities in care, particularly for Black, AAPI and AIAN women. Efforts like ACS’s Voices of Black Women study aim to close these gaps by enrolling 100,000 Black women to explore cancer risks and outcomes.
Ensuring access to screening is critical to reducing mortality, ACS urges Congress to pass legislation to expand breast cancer screening programs to uninsured and underinsured women.
