Number of Additional Breast Cancer Cases

What does all this mean for Canadian women? The Canadian Cancer Society reported in its annual report that an estimated 22,300 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,300 would die of it in 2007. By contrast an estimated 170 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 50 will die of it.

 

• On average, 407 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every week.
• On average, 102 Canadian women will die of breast cancer every week.
• Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in Canadian women accounting for 30% of all cancer found in women aged 20-49 years. It is the leading cause of cancer death in young women.
• Since 1969, breast cancer incidence rates have risen by 30%.
• Mortality rates have dropped by 25% since 1986, due to improved medical treatments.

New cases and deaths from breast cancer, females, Canada, 1969-1996

Source: Canadian Cancer Registry, National Cancer Incidence Reporting System, and Health Statistics Division

If this already high lifetime risk is increased by even a small percentage from an avoidable risk factor, then many thousands more women will develop breast cancer who would not otherwise have contracted it.