More Women Are Being Diagnosed With Breast Cancer at Later Stages

-

 

More Women Are Being Diagnosed With Breast Cancer at Later Stages





By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Dec. 10, 2024 -- More breast cancers are being detected later in women, giving the tumors a chance to spread and become life-threatening, a new study finds.

This increase in late-stage breast cancer affects women of all ages and ethnicities, according to results published Dec. 10 in the journal Radiology.

“Women with this diagnosis have a much lower survival rate and are much harder to treat,” said researcher Dr. Debra Monticciolo, a past president of the American College of Radiology.

Analysis of cancer registry data in the United States revealed that stage 4 breast cancer rates had increased:

  • 2.9% annually for women ages 20 to 39 between 2004 and 2021

  • 2.1% annually for women ages 40 to 74 between 2004 and 2012 and 2.7% between 2018 and 2021

  • 1.4% annually for women aged 75 and older between 2004 and 2021

The five-year survival rate for women with stage 4 breast cancer is 31%, compared with 99% for early-stage cancer, researchers said.

“The significant increase in metastatic disease at diagnosis among all U.S. women and across all age groups is an alarming new finding,” said lead researcher Edward Hendrick, a clinical professor of radiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine.

Hendrick noted in a journal news release that the problem might be even worse than these findings suggest.

During the pandemic, the number of mammograms conducted for breast cancer screening declined sharply, which means there was “likely undercounting of advanced disease in 2020,” Hendrick said.

“During the pandemic, we saw steep drops in the number of older, minority women being screened,” Monticciolo said. “This population tends to get left behind when any stress occurs in the health care system.”

Native American women had the largest increase in detection of advanced breast cancer, with an annual rise of 3.9% between 2004 and 2021, while the rate among Asian women increased by 2.9% annually.

Black and Hispanic women saw annual increases of 0.86% and 1.6% from 2004 to 2021, respectively.

The rate among white women increased by 1.7% annually from 2004 to 2012 and did not increase after that.

Overall, the rate of advanced breast cancer in Black women was 55% higher than that found in white women, results show.

There are likely many reasons why breast cancers are being found later, researchers said.

For example, there’s no nationally organized screening program for breast cancer, and screening guidelines differ between groups like the American Cancer Society and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), the researchers noted.

The confusion may cause some women to throw up their hands and not bother with breast cancer screening, researchers said.

“Fewer than 50% of U.S. women participate in annual breast cancer screening,” Monticciolo said. “That means we don’t have the opportunity to sweep out early-stage breast cancers in huge numbers of women, who will arrive at a later stage for diagnosis.”

The USPSTF guidelines recommend that women aged 40 to 74 receive a mammogram every two years.

By comparison, the ACS recommends annual mammograms for women between 45 and 54, with mammograms every other year after 55. Women ages 40 to 44 have the option to start breast cancer screening.

“The USPSTF guidelines leave out women over age 74, despite the clear advantages of early detection,” Monticciolo said. “And younger women don’t get the chance to be screened, when as a population, they are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive, fast-growing cancers.”

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommends that women undergo a breast cancer risk assessment by the age of 25 to evaluate their overall risk, researchers said.

More study is needed to fully understand these trends, particularly among Black women whose risk is most significant, researchers said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PEOPLE WITH OBESITY BURN LESS CALORIES DURING THE DAY

-
Image
  PEOPLE WITH OBESITY BURN LESS CALORIES DURING THE DAY Building on prior studies with healthy-weight participants, the new research includes different body sizes.         New research indicates that weight influences how and when bodies burn energy. An Oregon Health & Science University study published in the journal  Obesity  found people who have a healthy weight use more energy during the day, when most people are active and eat, while those who are obese spend more energy during the night when most people sleep. The study also found that during the day, those with obesity have higher levels of the hormone insulin -- a sign that the body is working harder to use glucose, an energy-packed sugar. "It was surprising to learn how dramatically the timing of when our bodies burn energy differed in those with obesity," said the study's first author, Andrew McHill, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the OHSU School of Nursing and the Oregon Institute of ...
Read more

WHAT CAUSES ITCHING, AND WHAT STOPS IT?

-
Image
  WHAT CAUSES ITCHING, AND WHAT STOPS IT?         It can be a relief to scratch the occasional itch, but when itch gets out of control, it can become a severe health problem. How does the body know when to stop? Scientists at UC San Francisco are getting close to an answer. In a breakthrough that could transform how doctors treat conditions from eczema to allergies, they have discovered a feedback loop centered on a single immune protein called IL-31 that causes the urge to itch and dials back nearby inflammation. The findings, published on October 13th in  Science Immunology , lay the groundwork for a new generation of drugs that interact more intelligently with the body's innate self-regulating ability. Previous approaches suggested that IL-31 signals itch and promotes skin inflammation. However, the UCSF team discovered that nerve cells, or neurons, that respond to IL-31, triggering a scratch, also prevent immune cells from overreacting and causing more ...
Read more

A VEGAN DIET IMPROVES CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH, ACCORDING TO A NEW STUDY

-
Image
  A VEGAN DIET IMPROVES CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH, ACCORDING TO A NEW STUDY         In a study with 22 pairs of identical twins, Stanford Medicine researchers and their colleagues have found that a vegan diet improves cardiovascular health in as little as eight weeks. Although it's well-known that eating less meat improves cardiovascular health, diet studies often need to be enhanced by genetic differences, upbringing, and lifestyle choices. By studying identical twins, however, the researchers were able to control for genetics and limit the other factors, as the twins grew up in the same households and reported similar lifestyles. "Not only did this study provide a groundbreaking way to assert that a vegan diet is healthier than the conventional omnivore diet, but the twins were also a riot to work with," said Christopher Gardner, Ph.D., the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor and a professor of medicine. "They dressed the same, they talked the same, and they had a banter ...
Read more