October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and unfortunately, rates of the disease are on the rise—and those rates are increasing faster for younger women.
According to a report published by the American Cancer Society on Tuesday, rates of this devastating disease jumped 1% per year between 2012 and 2021—and even more so for women under 50 years old. In fact, women in their 20s experienced a 2.2% yearly increase. Thankfully, their overall risk is still low.
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But breast cancer remains the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in women in the U.S.
The research found that around 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at some point in her life, while 1 in 43 will die from breast cancer. Most deaths, of course, occur in older women—however, young women and men can get breast cancer, too.
So, what’s there to do about it?
Often, symptoms can be overlooked or brushed off due to young age and fewer risk factors. That’s one reason the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force lowered the breast cancer screening age to 40—down from 50—earlier this year. This means women will start getting mammograms at a younger age, as part of their annual screening.
However, not everyone has equal access to routine screening—and there’s evidence that Black and Native American women are disproportionately impacted by breast cancer as a result.
While Black women have 5% lower breast cancer incidence than white women, they have 38% higher breast cancer mortality, while American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women have a 10% lower breast cancer incidence with 6% higher mortality. The mortality rates are in part due to unequal access to cancer screening and treatment.
“The bottom line is, we need to improve access to high-quality screening and high-quality treatment for all women of color, especially to Black and Native American women,” said Rebecca L. Siegel, an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society and senior author of the report. “We need to expand that progress to all women.”
