Breast Cancer

Each year in the United States approximately 230,000 new cases of breast cancer in women will be diagnosed. While men may also develop breast cancer, the number of cases in males annually is 0.01 percent of the total female population [Page 135]affected. Based on current life expectancy for women in the United States, one woman out of nine will develop breast cancer in her lifetime—a risk that was one out of 14 in 1960. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for all women, and the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 20 and 59. In 2013, an estimated 39,200 women were expected to die from the disease—one woman every 13 minutes. Given these statistics, it is ...