Breast cancer rates rise among younger women, CDC data show

Breast cancer younger women data from the CDC show a sustained rise in U.S. diagnoses, with 27,136 new cases reported among women under 45 in 2022. The agency says incidence in that age group increased by an average of 0.7% a year from 2001 through 2022.

The trend is real, but it did not climb in every individual year. The age-adjusted rate was 31.22 cases per 100,000 women under 45 in 2021 and 30.91 in 2022, according to the CDC. That 2022 rate was still above 27.24 per 100,000 in 2001.

Are breast cancer rates rising among younger women?

Yes, over the long term, according to the CDC’s national data. Rates were stable from 2001 to 2012, then rose by 1.1% a year from 2012 to 2022 among women younger than 45.

Most breast cancers still occur in older women, the CDC says. But the increase among younger women appeared across every racial and ethnic group it tracked from 2001 to 2022.

• Rates rose fastest, on average, among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native women, at 2.1% a year.
• Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander women saw an average annual increase of 1.3%.
• Rates rose 0.8% among Hispanic women, 0.7% among non-Hispanic White women and 0.4% among non-Hispanic Black women.
• Non-Hispanic Black women had the highest incidence rate among the groups during most of the period, the CDC reported.

The mortality picture moved in the other direction for several groups. In 2023, 2,209 U.S. women under 45 died from breast cancer. Death rates declined from 2001 to 2023 among non-Hispanic Black, White, Hispanic, and Asian and Pacific Islander women, though non-Hispanic Black women had the highest death rate throughout that period. The CDC said it could not assess a trend for American Indian or Alaska Native women because data were limited in some years.

What did a separate study find?

A Washington University School of Medicine-led study of more than 217,000 U.S. women ages 20 to 49 diagnosed between 2000 and 2019 found a sharper rise after 2016. Its age range differs from the CDC analysis, which covers women younger than 45.

In that study, the rate rose from about 64 cases per 100,000 in 2000 to 66 in 2016, then reached 74 by 2019. Researchers said they did not yet know why the rate accelerated after 2016.

The increase in that dataset came almost entirely from estrogen-receptor-positive tumors, which are fueled by estrogen; estrogen-receptor-negative tumor incidence fell over the study period, according to the university’s report on the research. The finding describes that study, not every breast-cancer case nationwide.

The Washington University release says routine screening for most women begins at age 40. A Harvard Medical School physician-scientist has also said that breast abnormalities in younger women should receive prompt follow-up rather than being dismissed because of age. Possible lifestyle and environmental explanations for the rise remain hypotheses, not established causes.

This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.