News: Annual breast cancer update reveals substantial racial disparities in mortality

The American Cancer Society (ACS) has released its annual update on breast cancer statistics, noting an overall 1% annual increase in breast cancer diagnoses from 2012-2021, Medscape reported.

The update also noted that, while breast cancer diagnoses have increased in recent years, there has been an overall 44% drop in breast cancer mortality from 1989 to 2022. The authors argued that the progress is the result of advances in treatment and earlier detection through screening, though they stressed that "these interventions have not been disseminated equally."

“Asian American/Pacific Islander women had the greatest increases in breast cancer incidence among both age groups, with a 2.7% annual increase for those aged under 50 and a 2.5% increase for those aged 50 or older,” the authors of the update noted.

“This group,” the researchers continued, “had the second lowest breast cancer rate in 2000 at 57.4 cases per 100,000 persons, but the highest rate in 2021 at 86.3 cases per 100,000, alongside white women (86.4 cases per 100,000). Black women were not far behind at 81.5 cases per 100,000.”

According to the update, since 1990, the mortality rate for American Indian/Alaska Native women has “remained unchanged,” with Black women experiencing a 38% higher mortality rate than white women, “despite having a 5% lower incidence of breast cancer.”

Editor’s note: To read the Medscape coverage, click here. To read the ACS update, click here.