Publication Focuses on Breast Cancer in California
The CBCRP has compiled a summary of the status of breast cancer in California, called Breast Cancer in California: A Closer Look. This report is based on data from the California Cancer Registry's special report, Breast Cancer in California, 2003, and provides the most current picture available of breast cancer's affect on the lives of women in our state. Below you can find some facts derived from the summary. You can read the full report on our Web site or you can request a hard copy by calling us at: 888 313-BCRP (2277).
- Fifty-five percent of California women who get breast cancer are under age 65.
- White women are more likely to get breast cancer, but African American women are more likely to die from it.
- More California women are getting breast cancer, but the death rate is down.
- The breast cancer death rate for Asian women in California is going up, while the rates for other California ethnic groups are dropping.
- A 50-year-old California woman's chance of getting breast cancer over the next 20 years is 1 in 17. Over the next five years, it's 1 in 84.
- The California county with the highest breast cancer rate is Marin, and the county with the lowest rate is Imperial.
- Women with more education and higher incomes are more likely to get breast cancer.
- Breast cancer is slightly more common in the left breast than in the right.
- More California women are being treated with breast-conserving surgery now, instead of having their entire breast removed, to treat breast cancer.
- Younger women diagnosed with breast cancer are less likely to survive than are older women.
- One thing women can do that may cut down their chances of getting breast cancer is to get regular exercise.
