Incidents of breast cancer have seen slight increases in women younger than 50 annually, with the steepest increases in AAPI women since 2000, research released on Tuesday by the American Cancer Society showed.
According to the report, data from 2012 to 2021 showed that invasive breast cancer incidence rates increased by one percent annually, with a steeper trend, 1.4 percent, among women younger than 50.
Research also showed that breast cancer in women under 50 years old has increased by 50 percent in AAPI women since 2000.
The research showed that from 2012 to 2021, breast cancer increased by 2.6 percent annually for AAPI women. For Hispanic women, it increased one percentage point less than AAPI women per year, at 1.6 percent. It increased one percent annually for White, Black, and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women, the data showed.
The steeper increase in AAPI women may be attributed to the influence of Asian immigrants, who have higher breast cancer risk than Asian women who are born in the U.S., according to the report.
While the increase was steepest among AAPI women, the data showed that the highest overall rate of breast cancer is in white women, followed by Black, AIAN, AAPI, and, lastly, Hispanic women.
According to the report, breast cancer mortality has decreased in every racial and ethnic group since 1990, except for AIAN women.
The report also showed that the breast cancer death rate has dropped by 44 percent since 1989 due to advances in earlier detection and treatment.
Data also showed that Black women have five percent lower breast cancer incidence than white women but 38 percent higher mortality. It attributed this to less access to high-quality treatment and later diagnosis.
Additionally, AIAN women have 10 percent lower breast cancer incidence than white women, but six percent higher mortality rate, data showed.
The research is based on information from cancer data companies like the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, the National Center for Health Statistics, the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.