The Latest Breast Cancer Statistics: Unveiling Trends & Inequalities

Article Author: Amelia Talluri, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Major, Class of 2025, Science Director

As October is breast cancer awareness month, the American Cancer Society (ACS) released their most recent report with the disease statistics. Every two years, data from the National Cancer Institute and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is collected, analyzed, and published as practical statistics on breast cancer among women. It remains that approximately 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. The diagnosis rate has risen by 1% annually from 2012 to 2021, with a steeper increase of 1.4% for women younger than 50 and a 0.7% increase for women older than 50. While diagnosis rates have been increasing, mortality rates have decreased, though there are great disparities among different racial and ethnic groups. Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women have the fastest rise in breast cancer diagnoses with a 2.6% annual increase for all age groups. Between 2000 and 2021, diagnosis for AAPI women went from the second lowest rate among ethnic groups to the highest rate. Overall breast cancer mortality rate has decreased by 44% between 1989 to 2022, but there has been no change for American Indian/Alaska Native women. Black women remain with the highest mortality rate across all types of breast cancer, with a 38% higher mortality as compared to White women. The new information exhibits a need for equal access to suitable diagnosis and treatment across all ethnic, racial, and social groups. 

Uncovering why these disparities exist can make all the difference. First, it was noted that breast cancer screening has decreased by 45% overall between January and October of 2020 in a separate study which was justified by healthcare delays due to COVID-19. However, there is no notable improvement even within the past year. Diagnosis and mortality rates across different ethnic, racial, and social groups are often due to deeply rooted biases in our society. Individuals living in poverty are less likely to have health insurance. The U.S. Census Bureau shared that in 2023, 17.9% of Black people were living below the poverty line whereas 7.7% of White people were living below the poverty line. These disparities are not only reflected in healthcare accessibility, treatment, and recovery times, but also in products with heightened levels of harmful chemicals that are marketed toward certain people of color, which I wrote about in my previous blog post, ‘Personal Care Product Implications Regarding Puberty and Race.’

To mitigate these gaps of knowledge, Protect Our Breasts is dedicated to sharing this information with a greater audience. Sharing that these disparities exist, along with safer swaps to make, and simple habits to implement, we can make choices for ourselves to decrease the risk of breast cancer and other diseases. Please, spread the word further and share this information! Check out our social media and website to stay up to date with Protect Our Breasts. 

Citations 

Bureau, U. C. (n.d.). Poverty in the United States: 2023. Census.Gov. Retrieved October 20, 2024, from https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-283.html

Giaquinto, A. N., Sung, H., Newman, L. A., Freedman, R. A., Smith, R. A., Star, J., Jemal, A., & Siegel, R. L. (n.d.). Breast cancer statistics 2024. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, n/a(n/a). https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21863

Teglia, F., Angelini, M., Astolfi, L., Casolari, G., & Boffetta, P. (2022). Global Association of COVID-19 Pandemic Measures With Cancer Screening: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Oncology, 8(9), 1287–1293. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.2617

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Disclaimer: The information provided herein is the author’s opinion. Our authors are not scientists. We are not providing medical advice, but simply sharing publicly available information. When we reference data and databases, we do so with the caveat that most are only as good as the data they are based on. While POB strives to make the information as timely and accurate as possible, we make no claims, promises, or guarantees about the completeness, or adequacy of the contents of any site that is shared, and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of these sites. POB goes to great lengths to avoid declaring shared products as “safe” as there is no legal definition of the word “safe” at this time.