October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Did you know that 1 in 8 women in the USA will develop breast cancer in her lifetime? That’s definitely something to bring awareness to.
In 2019, an estimated 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed. That doesn’t include the 62,930 new cases of non-invasive diagnosed cases. These shocking numbers can’t be ignored. We did some research and found a few more alarming facts:
- This year, an estimated 41,760 women will die from breast cancer in the U.S. Every 2 minutes in the US a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer.
- Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, except for skin cancers (remember to wear your sunscreen!).
- In the US alone, there are over 3.5 million breast cancer survivors. Female breast cancer represents 15.2% of all new cancer cases in the U.S.
The Good News
In recent years there has been a gradual reduction in female breast cancer incidence rates for women over 50. This may be because of the decline in prescriptive hormone replacement therapy after menopause. Also, the death rate from breast cancer has declined since about 1990. This is mainly thought of being because of the awareness brought to this disease, better screening and early detection. Improving and alternative treatment options have also helped with the death rate.
What can you do?
Get a mammogram! If you’ve been given the clean bill of health there are many ways you can get involved with breast cancer awareness and prevention. Head over to nationalbreastcancer.org or ww5.komen.org for more facts and information on how you can donate and spread the word.