Breast Cancer Facts

• Every 3 minutes, a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer.


• Every 12 minutes, a woman in the U.S. dies from breast cancer.


• Breast cancer incidence has increased from 1 in 20 in 1960 to 1 in 7.5 in 2007.


• Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed non-skin cancer in women.


• Breast cancer accounts for 1 in every 3 cancers diagnosed in US women. Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk. Approximately 216,000 new breast cancer cases will be diagnosed in women in 2006; 4400 new cases will occur in Tennessee women.


• Breast cancer in women will result in over 40,000 deaths this year, including 1000 from Tennessee.


• Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54.


• Breast cancer is the second leading cause of all cancer-related deaths in women.  Only lung cancer accounts for more cancer-related deaths. You are never too young to develop breast cancer! Breast Self-Exam should begin by the age of twenty. Approximately1690 men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year; 500 deaths will result from the disease.


• Less than 15% of women diagnosed with breast cancer have a family history of the disease.


• African-American women have a higher rate of death from breast cancer than any other race.


• Breast cancer costs the United States $6 billion dollars annually in medical costs and lost productivity.