Except for skin cancers, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in the U.S. and it’s second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death among women. This year alone, more than 200,000 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer (in addition to the 50,000 cases of non-invasive breast cancer that will occur) and 40,000 women will die from the disease. There are about 2.5 million breast cancer survivors living in the U.S. today and the number of deaths appears to be declining due to early detection and more effective treatments.
The numbers are staggering and chances are you or someone you know has been affected by breast cancer. While we don’t know exactly what causes breast cancer to occur, we know that there are certain risk factors like age and genetics can play a role. Some lifestyle factors have also been associated with an increased risk to develop breast cancer such as being overweight, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and lack of exercise. Read more here for ways that you may be able to reduce your risk of breast cancer.
Source: Susan G. Komen Foundation & the American Cancer Society
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