A new medical study has found a potentially disturbing new trend.
A new report issued by the American Cancer Society, called “Breast Cancer Statistics, 2024,” has revealed that while deaths from breast cancer have been on a precipitous decline for decades now, diagnoses in the U.S. have increased recently among women who are 50 years old and younger.
The report found that breast cancer mortality has decreased by 44% overall since 1989, which is certainly a good sign. However, new diagnoses of breast cancer increased by 1% every year from 2012 through 2021.
The report further revealed that the largest spike in breast cancer diagnoses happened among women who were younger than 50 years old (a 1.4% rise per year) and among women who identify as Asian-American/Pacific-Islander (an increase of 2.7% annually).
The latest results were published in the CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians publication.
The lead author of that report, Angela Giaquinto, spoke to Fox News Digital about the findings recently, saying:
“Although the breast cancer death rate has declined by 44% thanks to advances in early detection and treatment, the continued increase in breast cancer incidence may slow progress in the future.”
According to Giaquinto, this is especially true of women who are younger than 50 years old. The rates of breast cancer increased by 1.4% annually during the study dates, compared to only 0.7% annually in women older than 50.
While women today are “a lot less likely” to die from breast cancer, “alarming disparities” remain still among who is affected, according to Dr. William Dahut, who serves as ACS’ chief scientific officer.
The biggest disparities occur among Black, Native American, Pacific Islander and Asian-American women.
As Dahut said in a news release accompanying the findings:
“These gaps need to be rectified through systematic efforts to ensure access to high-quality screening and treatment for every woman.”
The report used data that was compiled by multiple entities, including the National Center for Health Statistics; the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention runs; as well as the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program run by the National Cancer Institute.
Breast cancer trails only skin cancer as the most prevalent cancer affecting women.
The ACS estimates that in 2024, there will be roughly 310,720 women who will receive an invasive breast cancer diagnosis, with about 42,250 dying from it.
Dr. Chistopher McGreevy, who works at the Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey’s associate chief of breast surgery, said:
“The increased prevalence of breast cancer is not only an issue in the U.S. — we are seeing similar trends in other countries as well. … The reasons for the increased prevalence of breast cancer in younger patients are complicated, multi-faceted and still being studied.”
One of the leading reasons for the increased diagnosis of breast cancer is that more patients today are obese. This can be a “key driver of certain breast cancers,” McGreevy said, especially when there is extra weight after menopause.
