· In 2009, an estimated 22,700 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,400 will die of it.
· Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women and the second leading cause of cancer mortality.
· An estimated 180 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 50 will die of it.
· On average, 437 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every week.
· On average, 104 Canadian women will die of breast cancer every week.
· One in nine women is expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime. One in 28 will die of it.
· 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 20-59, accounting for 37% of new cases and 22% of deaths
· 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 87 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.
· 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.
· Breast cancer death rates have declined in all ages combined and in every age group since at least the mid 1990s.
· Incidence and death rates for breast cancer have declined since 1969 in women aged 20-39.
