Despite progress, breast cancer disparities persist for many

“The reality is that breast cancer still remains a major challenge for individuals across the country,” American Cancer Society CEO Karen E. Knudsen said in the meeting briefing. This year

alone, an estimated 310,720 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and an additional 56,500 cases of the noninvasive ductal carcinoma in situ will be diagnosed. Approximately

42,250 women will die from the disease in 2024. “I also would like to not leave out men from the state of play, because although breast cancer for men is rare, it is real, and it also is

something that is of grave concern given the mortality rate,” Knudsen said. Nearly 2,800 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024, and roughly 530 will die, according to the American

Cancer Society. EXPERTS CALL FOR BETTER ACCESS TO SCREENING AND MORE RESEARCH The factors influencing these trends are likely “multifaceted,” Knudsen said. An estimated 67 percent of women

age 40 and older in the U.S. had a breast cancer screening in the past two years, the report found, and Black women have the highest screening rate (73 percent). Even still, Black women are

less likely than white women to have high-quality screening, the report's lead author, Angela Giaquinto, said in an email to AARP, and they are more likely to experience delays in

diagnosis and treatment following their mammography screening. Breast cancer screening rates hover around 51 percent for American Indian/Alaska Native women and 62 percent for Asian American

women. What’s more, Hispanic women are less likely to be screened than white women, the report found. “Understanding what needs to be done differently as far as screening prevention is

critical,” Dahut said. For example, Knudsen added, “having mammography nights and weekends or mornings and weekends is incredibly effective at getting an increased uptake for cancer

screening.” Also key, Dahut says, is follow-up after a screening. “An abnormal mammography needs to lead relatively quickly to a biopsy, and if cancer is found, a treatment plan,” Dahut

said. “I think we’ve seen, sadly, a lag along the way from getting a mammography scheduled to actually having a biopsy done and then to beginning therapy, which is, I think, also a very

important factor when we look at mortality outcomes.”