Breast Health Statistics
Numbers speak louder than words

• After lung cancer, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women today and it is the most common cancer among women, excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers.
     
• According to the American Cancer Society:
  • 211,240 women in the U.S. will be told by their physicians that they have invasive breast cancer in 2005
  • 40,410 women in the U.S. will die this year of breast cancer disease
       
• More than 1.2 million people will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year world-wide according to the World Health Organization.
     
• The chance of developing invasive breast cancer during a woman's lifetime is approximately one in seven (13.4 percent). Another 58,490 women will be diagnosed with in situ breast cancer, a very early form of the disease.
     
• Due to earlier detection and better treatments, there has been a slight decline of 2.3 percent in breast cancer death rates since 1990, primarily in women under age 50. 
     
• While the incidence rate is lower for African Americans than whites, the mortality rate is higher.  Women of other racial and ethnic groups have lower incidence and mortality rates.
     
• Though much less common, breast cancer also occurs in men. An estimated 1,690 cases will be diagnosed in men in 2005. Approximately 470 men die from breast cancer annually. Male breast cancers account for approximately 1 percent of all breast cancer cases.

Other Informative Statistics can be found at

• Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2005-2006
  The American Cancer Society (downloadable pdf)
• Breast Cancer: Statistics on Incidence, Survival, and Screening
• Breast Cancer in Men
  Imaginis Breast Health Resource
• Probability of Breast Cancer in American Women
• Breast Cancer Prevention Studies
• Snapshot of Breast Cancer
• More info on SEER
  National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program’s SEER Cancer Statistics Review 1975–2002
• Breast Cancer Prevention