The American Cancer Society (ACS) reports that 12 percent of American women develop invasive breast cancer at some point in their lifetimes. That's one in every eight women in the United States.
Diagnosis
The ACS estimates that in 2009, 192,370 women will have been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and 62,280 will have been diagnosed with the earliest form of breast cancer, carcinoma in situ.
Hormone Replacement Therapy
The ACS reports a 2 percent decrease in breast cancer incidence per year between the years of 1999 and 2006. Many experts speculate that this decrease is due largely to the decrease in use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in menopausal women.
Second Leading Cause of Death
In the United States, one in every 35 women die of breast cancer, making it the second leading cause of cancer death for American women, according to the ACS. In 2009 alone, the ACS estimates that 40,170 women will die of breast cancer.
Survivors
The ACS approximates that there are more than 2.5 million survivors of breast cancer living in the United States.
Prevention and Early Detection
According to the ACS, the earlier breast cancer is caught, the better the chance for survival. The ACS reports a five-year relative survival rate for stage I breast cancer at 100 percent. If caught in stage II, the survival rate decreases to 86 percent.
Later Stages
By stage III, the breast cancer survival rate drops to 57 percent. If breast cancer is caught in stage IV, the five-year relative survival rate is only 20 percent.
Tags: breast cancer, breast cancer, survival rate, United States, American women, been diagnosed, been diagnosed with
