When it comes to breast cancer, statistics can be misleading. Viewed one way, you would be inclined to believe breast cancer is slowly being eliminated. Viewed a second way, you would be just as quick to think that the disease poses as great a threat as it ever has. As is often the case when looking at statistics, the reality is somewhere in the middle.

Rates of Incidence and Deaths in Breast Cancer - Per Year

According to the American Cancer Society, female breast cancer incidence rates decreased 2 percent every year between 1999 and 2006. Rates of breast cancer-caused deaths in women have been on a steady decline since 1990.

Those are uplifting and encouraging trends, and not completely unexpected with today’s technology, preventive standards and proactive measures.  However, an increased effort aimed at decreasing the occurrences of late detection and breast cancer misdiagnosis would also go a long way toward reducing the number breast-cancer deaths among women.

Breast Cancer by the Numbers - Per Year

The sheer number of new incidences of breast cancer in women each year far outdistances any other type of female cancer.  It’s estimated that breast cancer accounted for 28 percent of all new diagnoses of cancer in women for 2010, doubling the next closest which is lung and bronchus cancer. 

According to the National Cancer Institute, over 207,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. Of all female deaths due to cancer in 2010, estimates are that breast cancer accounted for approximately 40,000 deaths. The probability of a woman developing invasive breast cancer anytime in her life is 12 percent, or one out of every eight women.

With so many new cases expected, it’s vital for incidences of breast cancer to be discovered as early as possible. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with breast cancer and feel it may have been misdiagnosed or detected late, please request a copy of our free book, I Have Cancer… Should It Have Been Caught Earlier?, or a copy of our special breast cancer report.  You can also contact an experienced Georgia medical malpractice and breast cancer lawyer at the Dover Law Firm at 770-518-1133 for more information.