Epidemiology

Breast cancer is the most common female malignancy worldwide.[7] There were an estimated 2,308,897 new cases in 2022, accounting for approximately 23.8% of all new cancers in women.[7] Incidence rates were highest in Australia-New Zealand, North America, Northern Europe, and Western Europe.[7]

In 2025, it is estimated that there will be approximately 316,950 new cases of female breast cancer in the US, and 42,170 women will die from breast cancer.​[8]​​​​ The incidence of breast cancer is more than 100 times greater in women than in men.[9]

Breast cancer is most commonly diagnosed in middle-aged or older women; median age at diagnosis is 63 years.[8] The 5-year relative survival rate for breast cancer in the US is 91.7%.[8] In 2022, there were an estimated 4,091,181 women living with breast cancer in the US.[8]

In the US, the age-adjusted incidence of female breast cancer (based on data from 2018 to 2022) is highest in non-Hispanic white women (140.0 per 100,000), followed by non-Hispanic black women (131.0 per 100,000), non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native women (116.7 per 100,000), non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander women (114.3 per 100,000), and Hispanic women (104.0 per 100,000).[8] Age-adjusted mortality rates in non-Hispanic black women remain higher than in white women (26.5 per 100,000 vs. 19.3 per 100,000 [based on data from 2019 to 2023]).[8]

The age-adjusted incidence rate of breast cancer in women in the US declined rapidly by 6.7% between 2002 and 2003.[10] The reason for this is not fully understood, but it has been noted that the decline followed the first report of the Women's Health Initiative study, which led to a reduction in the use of hormone replacement therapy.[10]

The incidence of breast cancer in the US has been increasing since 2004, possibly due to declining fertility rate and increasing obesity in the US.[11] Age-adjusted incidence rates for new female breast cancer increased by an average 0.6% each year between 2013 and 2022. Age-adjusted death rates have been falling on average by 1.2% each year over 2014-2023.[8]

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