Death rates from breast cancer began dropping at an accelerating pace during the mid-1990s, showing the results of improved treatments and wider use of mammography, according to the latest breast cancer data released in the American Cancer Society’s new publication, Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2001-2002.

Death rates reflect the number of people who die from a particular disease per 100,000 population.

“Between 1995 and 1998 US breast cancer death rates began dropping faster than before — declining about 3.4% each year,” notes Andrea G. Thomas, MPH, manager of surveillance information services for the American Cancer Society (ACS).

Thomas notes that in 2001 there are expected to be about 40,200 deaths from breast cancer within the US; in 1995 there were 43,843 deaths from the disease.

Thomas says the drop in death rates is due to improved treatments, and the effects of more women taking advantage of mammography screening.

“Screening allows doctors to detect breast cancer at an earlier stage, which obviously has a greater impact on survival for women — smaller tumors have the greatest likelihood of the most successful treatment,” notes Thomas.

The new data also show that between 1987 and 1998 the rise in the incidence rates of breast cancer cases slowed to about one-half of one percent per year. The incidence rate is the number of people newly diagnosed with a disease per 100,000 population.

Thomas notes that between 1980 and 1987 the incidence rate of breast cancer in the US had risen markedly, at a rate of almost 4% per year.

Scientists think the big rise in new cases in those years was due to the rapid increase in use of mammography then, resulting in detection of many smaller tumors, which would have been missed in previous years. The fact that the incidence of smaller tumors more than doubled during that time suggests they’re right, notes Thomas.

Researchers believe the remaining very small yearly increase still seen is due to a long-term trend of women delaying childbirth and having fewer children, and the continued diagnosis with mammography of tumors so small that they would have been missed in earlier years.

The numbers and graphs compiled and summarized by the ACS department of epidemiology and surveillance research give authoritative and accurate outlines of important trends in the disease, and text provided by the ACS department of cancer control helps readers interpret and understand the meaning of the data.

A broad array of information tools, the 21-page publication includes statistics and text explaining:

• What breast cancer is;
• Who gets breast cancer;
• How its occurrence has changed over time, and the factors that raise the risk of developing it and that influence surviving it;
• How risk of breast cancer can be lowered, and detected early if it does occur;
• How breast cancer is treated, and current research;
• Local community resources, and what the American Cancer Society is doing about breast cancer.

“This publication gives non-scientists plain language, basic facts and details about breast cancer that can help them focus effectively on ways to make a difference in the fight against the disease,” says Thomas. “We’re happy to bring this information to the public.”

Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2001-2002 is available now at no charge by calling the ACS toll-free number: 1-800-ACS-2345 (1-800-227-2345) and can also be downloaded from the ACS web site.