Breast Cancer Prevention Lorne D. Feldman, MD Incidence of Breast Cancer Breast cancer will be diagnosed in 182,800 women in the United States in the year 2000. Approximately 40,800 women in the United States will die of breast cancer in 2000. Although the breast cancer incidence is higher in white women than in black women in the United States, the mortality rate is higher in black women. The incidence of breast cancer is significantly lower in Japan, Thailand, Nigeria, and India than in Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For breast cancer, simply being a woman is the main risk factor.
Blood relatives can be from either the mother's or father's side of the family.
Women whose earlier breast biopsies were diagnosed as proliferative breast disease as compared to nonproliferative have an increased risk and other changes seen using a microscope can also predict a greater risk of future breast cancer. This is different from a recurrence of the first cancer. This risk may be proportionate to duration of use and related to combination therapy. Patients considering the use of HRT should weigh its potential effect on breast cancer risk against evidence that it reduces overall mortality. Other studies found no impact on breast cancer risk.