October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast Cancer Statistics
The following is adapted from information available from the American Cancer Society (ACS).

Excluding cancers of the skin, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among U.S. women, accounting for more than 1 in 4 cancers.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer.
One out of eight American women who live to be 85 years of age will develop breast cancer, a risk that was one out of 14 in 1960.

2.4 million women living in the U.S. have been diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer.
An estimated 182,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in American women during 2008. About 1,990 new cases of breast cancer are expected in men. In addition, an estimated 67,770 cases of in situ breast cancer (both DCIS and LCIS) are expected, with 85 percent being DCIS.

An estimated 40,930 breast cancer deaths are anticipated this year (40,480 women, 450 men).

The greatest risk factor for developing breast cancer is gender (female) and the second is age.

During 2000-2004, 95 percent of new cases and 97 percent of breast cancer deaths occurred in women aged 40 and older.

The risk of developing breast cancer increases for women whose parent, sibling or child have had the disease.

It has been estimated that 5 percent to 10 percent of breast cancer cases result from inherited mutations or alterations in BRCA1 and BRCA2.

Women who begin menstruating before age 12 are at increased risk of developing breast cancer. The more menstrual cycles a woman has during her lifetime, the more her risk increases.

Other risk factors include inherited mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, a personal or family history of breast cancer, high breast tissue density, high-dose radiation to the chest wall, long menstrual history, never having given birth or giving birth for the first time after age 30, and biopsy-confirmed atypical hyperplasia.

After decreasing 16 percent from 2006 to 2007, the estimated number of new cases of female invasive breast cancer is expected to increase slightly in 2008 to 182,460, up from 178,480. The estimated number of new breast cancer cases in men is expected to continue to decline slightly, with 1,990 new cases in 2008, down from 2,030 in 2007.

Female breast cancer incidence rates continuously increased for two decades, but have leveled off since 2001. One possible explanation for the decrease is that millions of women stopped taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) following published research that indicates a positive link between taking HRT and developing breast cancer.

Patients with private insurance from all racial/ethnic groups are more likely to be diagnosed with stage I breast cancer and less likely to be diagnosed with stage III and IV than those who were uninsured or who had Medicaid insurance. While 89 percent of patients with private insurance survived five years, only 77 percent of uninsured and 75 percent of Medicaid patients passed the five year mark.
Information from Cancer Facts & Figures 2008, American Cancer Society.

More information is available thru these sites:
www.nationalbreastcancer.org
www.networkofstrength.org
www.komen.org

Ladies, get your mammograms. Wear pink this month and make a donation to help find the cure. You can do that by donating to the American Cancer Society directly or to the Susan Komen Foundation. There are many other organizations as well.
If you have a family history, tell your doctor. Find out if you have the gene mutation.
For the few guys that read this blog, you aren't exempt. Men can develop breast cancer as well.

Check out the sites listed above for more info.