Breast Cancer
Screening & Diagnosis
Screen recommendations:
The US Preventive Services Task Force is an organization made up of doctors and disease experts who look at research on the best way to prevent diseases and make recommendations on how doctors can help patients avoid diseases or find them early.
The Task Force recommends that women who are 40 to 74 years old and are at average risk for breast cancer get a mammogram every 2 years. Women should weigh the benefits and risks of screening tests (see below).
Some warning signs of breast cancer are:
- New lump in the breast or underarm (armpit).
- Thickening or swelling of part of the breast.
- Irritation or dimpling of breast skin.
- Redness or flaky skin in the nipple area or the breast.
- Pulling in of the nipple or pain in the nipple area.
- Nipple discharge other than breast milk, including blood.
- Any change in the size or the shape of the breast.
- Pain in any area of the breast.
Keep in mind that these symptoms can happen with other conditions that are not cancer. If you have any signs or symptoms, be sure to see your doctor right away.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in U.S. women, behind lung cancer. The chance that a woman will die from breast cancer is 1 in 39, or about 2.5%. In 2024, an estimated 42,250 women will die from breast cancer in the U.S.
Breast cancer death rates have slowly decreased since 1989, for an overall decline of 43% through 2020. This is in part due to better screening and early detection efforts, increased awareness, and continually improving treatment options. Women who receive regular screenings for breast cancer have a 26% lower breast cancer death rate than women who do not receive screenings.
Breast cancer in men statistics
All people are born with some breast cells and tissue, including men. Although rare, men get breast cancer too.
In 2024, an estimated 2,800 men will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in the United States.
The lifetime risk of a U.S. man developing breast cancer is about 1 in 833.
Black men with breast cancer tend to have a worse prognosis, or outlook, than white men with breast cancer.
Breast cancer under 40 is called Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA)
1. Young women are more likely to have aggressive forms of the disease.
Breast cancers in women under 40 are more likely to have features that can contribute to poorer prognoses and outcomes: larger tumor size, advanced tumor stage, negative hormone receptor status, and an overexpression of the HER2 protein. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)—a particularly aggressive subtype without many targeted treatment options, though that is changing—is also more common in younger women. In addition, rates of metastatic breast cancer in women under 40 have risen 3.5 percent each year between 2004 and 2017. Younger women are also more likely to experience a recurrence at five and 10 years after therapy compared to older women.
2. Racial disparities are pervasive among young Black women.
3. Younger patients are more likely to have genetic risk factors for breast cancer.
Inherited mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which increase breast cancer risk, are more commonly seen in young women. While about six percent of all women with breast cancer are carriers for BRCA mutations, the number is closer to 12 percent in patients under 45 with breast cancer. Women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent are particularly vulnerable because BRCA mutations are more prevalent in this group.
Has one or more family members who:
- was diagnosed with breast cancer before 50
- had cancer in both breasts
- had breast cancer as a man
- had ovarian, pancreatic, metastatic prostate cancer
- had TNBC
- had her first menstrual period before age 12
- had her first pregnancy over age 30 or has not had children. However, both pregnancy before age 30 and breastfeeding have been found to protect against breast cancer.
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