8 Updates on Breast Cancer for Primary Care: Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2024

October was designated Breast Cancer Awareness Month in 1985. The facts and figures collected in this short slide show are presented in support of the essential role of the primary care clinician in advocating for regular screening mammography with all women of appropriate age under their care.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women in the US and the second deadliest after lung cancer. Approximately 1 of every 8 women will be diagnosed with the malignancy in 2024 and more than 42 000 will die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.

In May 2024, the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended lowering the starting age for breast cancer screening from ag 50 to 40 years based largely on the increasing rates in younger women. Despite increasing rates of screening over time, however, Black women in the US have the lowest survival rate for all stages of breast cancer, a gap attributed to inequities in access to testing and timely treatment as well as a higher likelihood of triple-negative disease in the Black population. Click through the slides above for more facts you should know about breast cancer.