Breast cancer risk rising among women under 50, though overall deaths drop, report finds

While overall deaths from breast cancer have dropped 44% since 1989, the risk to younger women is growing, according to a new report released Tuesday by the American Cancer Society.

Nationally, about 350,000 women are expected to get a breast cancer diagnosis in 2024 and an estimated 42,000 will die, officials from the American Cancer Society said in a video briefing with reporters on Monday.

The incidence of breast cancer among women younger than 50 has gone up an average of 1.4% a year from 2012 to 2021, according to the report. And for Asian American/Pacific Islander women — who traditionally have had much lower rates of breast cancer than other groups — the incidence among this age group has jumped by 50% since 2000.

"We need significantly more research on the younger population because the numbers are so dramatic, particularly in the ages 20 to 29, where there's really no screening going on in anyone's guidelines at this point," said Dr. William L. Dahut, chief scientific officer at the American Cancer Society.

Dahut said Black women between the ages of 20 and 29 have double the risk of dying of breast cancer than white patients.

The disparities among Black women are especially striking since they are 5% less likely to develop breast cancer, but 38% more likely to die of the disease, officials said.

The American Cancer Society in May launched its Voices of Black Women program to study 100,000 Black women who have not received a cancer diagnosis starting at the age of 25 "to begin to get some clues about why we see this great disparity at such a younger age," Dahut said.

Dr. Cindy Cen, a surgical oncologist and breast surgeon at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute in Lake Success, said more research also needs to be done on breast cancer in the Asian community.

"I think Asians are kind of lost a little bit in the research realm," she said. "We aren’t included in a lot of these studies in high enough numbers so it’s hard to draw conclusions."

A recent report by the American Association for Cancer Research shows the overall cancer rate in New York State and the United States has plummeted over the past three decades due to improvements in treatments, early detection and the deep dip in smoking rates.

Breast cancer is more common on Long Island than in the state and nationally, according to the New York State Cancer Registry. The incidence in Nassau County on average between 2017 and 2021 was 146.8 per 100,000 women and 140.7 in Suffolk. The statewide rate during that same time period was 134.1. Nationally, the incidence rate was 133.8 in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nassau's death rate from breast cancer of 17.4 per 100,000 was lower than the statewide average of 17.3. Suffolk's was 16.6. The national rate was 18.7.

Breast cancer screening with mammograms has been vital to lowering mortality rates, as it can help detect cancers earlier and allow patients to start treatment. But screening rates are also lower in some populations of women, and generally are recommended for women over age 40.

Mairead Ryan of Bellmore, a pediatric oncology nurse at Memorial Sloan Kettering Center, was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in February when she was just 25 years old.

"I was so surprised because 25 is very young to be diagnosed with breast cancer," she said. "They wouldn't even give me a mammogram at first because they said insurance wouldn’t pay for it because I was too young."

Ryan had also survived a childhood cancer, Ewing sarcoma, but doctors said that was unrelated to her later breast cancer diagnosis. She was treated for breast cancer and her latest screen was clear. However, she will remain on some form of treatment for the rest of her life.

She said women as young as 18 to 22 should be allowed to get scanned for breast cancer.

"Unfortunately, I know other [young] women who are going through treatment ... one for a lump in her breast," she said. "And it’s frightening. It’s crazy."

Cen said she thinks everyone’s risk needs to be personalized, which could help open up screening to younger patients.

She said women can also help lower their risk for breast cancer by eating a healthy diet, limiting alcohol, exercising and getting screened.

"One in eight women are going to get diagnosed with breast cancer," Cen said. "And that’s regardless of family history or and even if you do everything right ... so don't skip your mammogram. That's really going to be key to early diagnosis and better treatments."

By Lisa L. Colangelo

lisa.colangelo@newsday.com@lisalcolangelo

Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.