Breast Cancer

Epidemiology

The epidemiology of Breast cancer is the study of the factors affecting cancer, as a way to infer possible trends and causes.  Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women, with approximately 182,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer annually in the United States, accounting for approximately 26% of all incident cancers among women. Each year, 40,000 women die of breast cancer, making it the second-leading cause of cancer deaths among American women after lung cancer. The lifetime risk of dying of breast cancer is approximately 3.4%. Breast cancer comprises 22.9% of invasive cancers in women and 16% of all female cancers. In 2008, breast cancer caused 458,503 deaths worldwide, 13.7% of cancer deaths in women and 6.0% of all cancer deaths for men and women together. The number of cases worldwide has significantly increased since the 1970s, a phenomenon partly attributed to the modern lifestyles.