Breast Cancer Statistics
Source: American Cancer Society
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Black women still have a 4% lower incidence rate of breast cancer than White women but a 40% higher breast cancer death rate.
This chart notes the following:
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The breast cancer incidence rate (light pink bars) is highest in White women and lowest in Hispanic women.
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The breast cancer death-rate (dark pink bars) is highest in Black women, followed by American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) women, and lowest in Asian/Pacific Islander women.
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Black and AIAN women both have a higher death rate than White women even though they both have a lower incidence rate for breast cancer than White women.
2. Black women have the lowest survival for all subtypes of breast cancer.
In this graphic, the bars show the percentage of women who are still alive 5 years after a cancer diagnosis based on the cancer’s stage when they were diagnosed (listed along the bottom) and their ethnicity (shown by color). At each stage, Black women, who are represeneted by the light pink bars, have the lowest survival. Black women who develop breast cancer are less likely than any other race to be alive 5 years after their diagnosis, regardless of when their cancer’s when discovered or what type it is.
On January 1, 2022, more than 4 million women were living in the US with a history of invasive breast cancer. Some of them were cancer-free, while others still had evidence of cancer and may have been undergoing treatment.
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Black women have the lowest 5-year relative breast cancer survival rate compared to all other racial/ethnic groups for every stage of diagnosis and every breast cancer subtype.
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The largest disparities in 5-year relative survival are for regional and distant stage breast cancer. Only 78% of Black women are living at least 5 years after their diagnosis of regional stage breast cancer compared to 88% of White women. For distant stage, the gap is slightly larger – 21% versus 32%
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There is a 6% to 8% gap in 5-year survival between Black and White women for every breast cancer subtype.
b) Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death after lung cancer in women in the US overall, but it’s the leading cause of cancer death in Black and Hispanic women.
c) During 2016 through 2020, the breast cancer incidence rate was higher in Black women compared to White women in only 4 states: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia. In contrast, the breast cancer death rate was higher for Black women than White women in every state except Washington.
d) The pace of the reduction in female breast cancer death rates is slower than it was during the 1990s and 2000s. Still, the 43% overall decline in mortality translates to 460,000 deaths avoided between 1989 and 2020. This decline is attributed to earlier detection through breast cancer screening and increased awareness of the disease as well as improvements in treatment.
e)The racial disparity in deaths from breast cancer has remained at 40% or higher for a decade.
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Black women younger than age 50 had a death rate that was twice as high as White women that age. Plus, Black women are more likely than White women to die of breast cancer at any age.
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AIAN women were 17% less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than White women but 4% more likely to die from the disease.
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Part of the reason the breast cancer death rate is not dropping as fast as it has in previous years is because screening rates aren’t increasing and too few women are receiving timely and high-quality treatment after they’re diagnosed with breast cancer.
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The study authors point out that “progress against breast cancer mortality could be accelerated by mitigating racial disparities through increased access to high-quality screening and treatment via nationwide Medicaid expansion and partnerships between community stakeholders, advocacy organizations, and health systems.”