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The news isn’t all doom and gloom in the world of breast cancer. If the number of diagnoses is skyrocketing, the good news is that there are fewer and fewer victims. Basically, cancer is a bit like a fashion: it is diversifying, but fortunately, it no longer kills like before.
Far from being discouraged, breast cancer is putting on a show with an increase in cases, but medical advances seem to be reducing its mortality.
Sobering numbers
Between 2012 and 2021, cases of breast cancer increased by 1% each year. However, mortality has collapsed: a drop of 44% between 1989 and 2022, as indicated in the latest report from the American Cancer Society. To put things in perspective, breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in American women, after lung cancer. And about one in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in their lifetime, and 2% of American women will die from it.
But what is even more striking is that the increase in cases is particularly marked among women under 50, with an increase of 1.4% per year, compared to 0.7% for older women. And why this trend? The answer seems unclear…
Racial and social disparities in the background
Women of Asian descent are experiencing the fastest increase in breast cancer rates, followed by Hispanics. Which, according to the report, “may be linked in part to the influx of new immigrants who are at high risk of breast cancer“At the same time, despite advances in treatment and early detection, not all women benefit equally from these advances.
Native American women have not seen their mortality rate change since 1990, and black women have 38% more deaths than white women, although cases are 5% lower. According to the report, these results highlight the impact of “social factors“on health and a”long-standing systemic racism that has resulted in poorer access to quality healthcare“.
Towards a better future?
Faced with this picture, the authors of the report suggest increasing ethnic diversity in clinical trials and promoting access for disadvantaged women to quality screening. And in April, a public health agency recommended starting mammograms at age 40 instead of 50, with screening every two years. An initiative that could well make a difference in the fight against breast cancer.