Data: U.S. Death Rate from Breast Cancer Continues to Decline

The death rate from breast cancer in the U.S. continues to decline as a result of improvements in early detection and treatment, according to the annual report on new cancer cases and deaths published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

However, the rate of breast cancer diagnoses in the U.S. was 40 percent higher in 1978 than it was 25 years earlier, which researchers say may partly be explained by more aggressive screening and earlier detection of the disease.

"The extent to which other factors, such as more obesity and post-menopausal hormone use, may contribute to the increase is unknown," said Brenda K. Edwards, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute and final author of the report.

A rise in the rate of stage II node-positive breast cancer diagnosed in white women ages 50 to 64 is a more recent observation, Edwards said.

Breast cancer makes up 16.3 percent of all cancer cases and accounts for 7.8 percent of all cancer deaths, according to the report by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including the National Center for Health Statistics, the American Cancer Society, and the National Cancer Institute.

Other sources: National Cancer Institute