Facts about Breast Cancer

• 22,300 women in Canada will develop breast cancer in 2007 and about 5,300 women die from the disease.
• The cause of breast cancer is unknown; besides being female, age is a woman’s single most important risk factor for developing breast cancer.
• Breast Cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in young women ages 20-49
• 20% of all breast cancers occur in women under 50 years of age. Incidence begins to rise after age 25.
• An estimated 4,415 Canadian women under the age of 50 will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and close to 575 will die.
• Young women's cancers are generally more aggressive and result in lower survival rates.
• When breast cancer is caught in its earliest stages, the five-year survival rate for women ages 20-39 with breast cancer is 79 percent.
• Young women with breast cancer struggle with many issues that their post-menopausal counterparts don't face, including: the possibility of early menopause, pregnancy after diagnosis, generally more advance cancers at diagnosis, and higher mortality rates.
• Every woman is at risk: only 5-10% of all breast cancers happen because of inherited genetic mutations.
• The breast is the leading cancer site for women, accounting for 30% of all cancers in women.
• The cumulative lifetime risk for Canadian women is 1 in 9 (1 in 27 will die)
• Breast cancer often responds well to chemotherapy and radiation.
• Research directed to understanding how and why tumors develop may result in new and effective methods of treatment that have fewer side effects than conventional chemotherapy.
• We know that lifestyle choices, such as not smoking, healthy eating and staying physically active, can play an important role in reducing breast cancer risk.

Source: Source: Canadian Cancer Society /National Cancer Institute of Canada. Canadian Cancer Statistics 2007, Toronto, Canada, 2007.