ACS Report on Breast Cancer: Despite Mortality Decline, Increased Incidence for Some Groups

By: Julia Cipriano, MS
Posted: Thursday, November 14, 2024

The American Cancer Society (ACS) released the “Breast Cancer Statistics 2024” report, which is part of a biennially updated series providing comprehensive data on breast cancer occurrence and trends in the United States. Angela N. Giaquinto, MSPH, Associate Scientist in Cancer Surveillance Research at the ACS, and colleagues reported the organization’s findings in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

“Women today are a lot less likely to die from breast cancer, but alarming disparities still remain, especially for Asian American, Pacific Islander, Native American, and Black women,” commented William Dahut, MD, Chief Scientific Officer at the ACS, in an ACS press release. “These gaps need to be rectified through systematic efforts to ensure access to high-quality screening and treatment for every woman.”

The investigators used incidence and mortality data from the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to construct their report. They described a continued upward trend in breast cancer incidence, rising by 1% annually between 2012 and 2021, with the steepest increases in women younger vs older than age 50 (1.4% vs 0.7% annually) and in Asian American/Pacific Islander women in both age groups (2.5% and 2.7% annually). The overall breast cancer mortality rate appeared to have dropped by 44% between 1989 and 2022, resulting in approximately 517,900 fewer breast cancer deaths.

However, progress in reducing breast cancer mortality was not observed across all racial and ethnic groups; the rate remained unchanged in American Indian/Alaska Native women since 1990 and was 38% higher despite 5% lower incidence in Black vs White women. Black women were also found to have lower survival for every breast cancer subtype and stage except localized disease, for which they were 10% less likely to be diagnosed than their White counterparts (58% vs 68%). According to the investigators, this highlights disadvantages in social determinants of health.

Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com.

CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians

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