Breast Cancer Facts

• One in eight women, or 12.6%, will get breast cancer in her lifetime. *The risk of breast cancer increases with age, and every woman is at risk. *77% of women with breast cancer are over 50.


• Approximately 1,700 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in 2006, and 460 of those men will die.


• More than 1.7 million women who have had breast cancer are still alive in the United States.


• Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74.


• 71% of black women diagnosed with breast cancer experience a 5-year survival rate, while 86% of white women experience 5-year survival.


• The first sign of breast cancer usually shows up on a woman's mammogram before it can be felt, or before any other symptoms are present.


• Increased risks for breast cancer include a family history, atypical hyperplasia, delaying pregnancy until after age 30 or never becoming pregnant, early menstruation (before age 12), late menopause (after age 55), current use or use in the last 10 years of oral contraceptives, and daily consumption of alcohol.


• Early detection of breast cancer, through monthly breast self-exam and particularly yearly mammography after age 40, offers the best chance for survival.


• 96% of women who find and treat breast cancer early will be cancer-free after 5 years.


• Over 80% of breast lumps are not cancerous, but benign, such as fibrocystic breast disease.


• You are never too young to develop breast cancer! Breast self-exams should begin by age 20.