MIAMI — You can get breast cancer at any age. Researchers are trying to understand why breast cancer incidence in patients under 40 has been increasing since 2001 in the United States.
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers supported by the National Cancer Institute recently found that young Black women who are not Hispanic had the highest incidence across the country.
“The increase in incidence we are seeing is alarming and cannot be explained by genetic factors alone, which evolve over much longer periods, nor by changes in screening practices, given that women under 40 years are below the recommended age for routine mammography screening,” Rebecca Kehm, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School, said in a statement about the research.
The study also found Florida was not among the five states with the highest early-onset incidence. Those were Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Connecticut.
Here are some facts to understand the trend:
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among teenagers aged 15 and older and women under 40.
About 11% of all breast cancer cases in the country occur in women younger than 45.
Incidence rates of breast cancer have increased by 1.4% for women younger than 50.
Women under 40 are nearly 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than women over 40 because they are more likely to have aggressive forms of the disease.
Sources: Breast Cancer Research Foundation, American Cancer Society, Yale Medicine, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
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