In 2018, 0.52%* of all women in the United States were living with breast cancer ^[3]. That same year, breast cancer was the 7th leading cause of death for women. Although a small percentage of breast cancer cases and deaths each year occur in men, the overwhelming incidence and mortality occur in women, thus, majority of breast cancer research and care is focused on women.

Medical services and prescription drug costs vary depending on phase of care and stage of disease at diagnosis. Annual average breast cancer-attributable costs are highest for patients at the end-of-life phase ($75,900) ^[4]. National costs, however, for breast cancer care are highest in the continuing phase ($13 billion), likely explained by the large population of breast cancer survivors in this phase ^[4].

Research also indicates that annual indirect costs per woman, including the value of lost work earnings and home productivity, are higher for patients with metastatic breast cancer compared to patients with localized cancer ^[5]. Women with metastatic breast cancer also have a lower 5-year relative survival rate (30.0% vs. 99.1%) ^[6].

* Age-adjusted, based on 5-year limited duration on January 1, 2018

Female Breast Cancer Prevalence*

*Age adjusted and based on 5-year limited duration on January 1, 2018
**Breast cancer prevalence in men is rare; therefore, only female breast cancer prevalence data was published. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Visualizations Tools [3]

Breast Cancer Prevalence, U.S. Females, by Age

Source: National Cancer Institute, Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program, SEER*Explorer [6]

Breast Cancer Prevalence,* U.S. Females, by Race

*Age-adjusted based on 5-year limited duration on January 1, 2018
**Hispanic of any race (some duplication exists within the data for other races) Source: National Cancer Institute, Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program, SEER*Explorer [6]

Breast Cancer Mortality, U.S. Females, All Ages – Top 5 States

Crude Rates are expressed as the number of deaths reported for a calendar year per 100,000 persons. Black/AA: Black or African American; Hispanic: Hispanic or Latino; API: Asian or Pacific Islander; AI/AN: American Indian or Alaska Native N/A: Number of deaths fall below a determined cut-off value and therefore are suppressed, and a crude rate is not calculated. Unreliable: Death rates are flagged as unreliable when the rate is calculated with a numerator of 20 or fewer deaths.
*Includes Hispanic individuals of any race

Breast Cancer Mortality, U.S. Females, All Ages, by Race – Top 3 States

Black/AA: Black or African American; Hispanic: Hispanic or Latino; API: Asian or Pacific Islander; AI/AN: American Indian or Alaska Native N/A: Number of deaths fall below a determined cut-off value and therefore are suppressed, and a crude rate is not calculated
*Includes Hispanic individuals of any race

California, a large and historically diverse state, was among the top 3 states with the highest breast cancer mortality rate for 3 of the 5 race/ethnicity groups shown here. Despite the small population compared to other states, the District of Columbia had the highest mortality rate for Black and African American women in the United States.

Download the Full Data Table of Breast Cancer Mortality (2018), u.s. Females, All Ages, by Race and State

Multiple factors contribute to incidence, morbidity, and mortality for breast cancer and its disproportional impact on women and women’s health, including but not limited to biological sex, sociocultural influences, and insurance coverage.

Research Investment

According to the National Institutes of Health’s Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) report, the NIH funded $721 million in Breast Cancer research in 2018 (2.7% of its total budget).

Download the Full List of 2018 Nih-Funded Grants for Alzheimer’s Disease

Health Disparities

• 1 in 8 women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer during her lifetime [2].
• Among women in the United States, breast cancer has the 2nd highest mortality rate when compared across all other cancer types [2].
• A higher rate of BRCA mutations with an increased risk of developing breast cancer has been observed among women of Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish descent [2].
• Overall breast cancer mortality has steadily decreased by 1% per year from 2013-2018.
• These decreases are largely attributed to advances in breast cancer treatments and early screening and detection [2].

Disease Burden

According to the World Health Organization Global Health Estimates, in 2018, breast cancer accounted for 1,276,667 disability-adjusted life years (DALY) lost among women ages 15 years and older [8]. The highest DALY rate was among women 65 years and older, 9,592 per 100,000 persons.

Insurance Coverage

There are significant financial costs associated with medical care for individuals with chronic diseases such as breast cancer. Health insurance access and coverage are important for assisting with the financial burden. Below is a table displaying rates of insurance coverage for the states with the highest mortality rates attributed to breast cancer in 2018.

U.S. Health Insurance Coverage by State

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation Health Insurance Coverage of the Total Population (CPS), 2018 [9] Uninsured: Includes individuals without health insurance and individuals who have coverage under the Indian Health Service only.
Employer: Includes individuals covered by employer-sponsored coverage either through their own job or as a dependent in the same household.
Non-Group: Includes individuals and families that purchased or are covered as a dependent by non-group insurance.
Medicaid: Includes individuals covered by Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and those who have both Medicaid and another type of coverage, such as dual eligibles who are also covered by Medicare.
Medicare: Includes individuals covered by Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and those who have Medicare and another type of non-Medicaid coverage where Medicare is the primary payer. Excludes individuals with Medicare Part A coverage only and those covered by Medicare and Medicaid (dual eligibles).
Military: Includes individuals covered under the military or Veterans Administration.
N/A: Estimates with relative standard errors greater than 30% are not provided.

Additional Resources

• About Breast Cancer
• CDC Breast Cancer
• National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI), Breast Cancer

References

¹Ferlay J, Colombet M, Soerjomataram I, et al. Cancer Statistics for the Year 2020: An Overview. Int J Cancer, 2021;149:778-789.

²American Cancer Society. Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2019-2020. Atlanta: American Cancer Society, Inc.; 2019.

³U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group. U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Visualizations Tool, based on 2021 submission data (1999-2019): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Cancer Institute; www.cdc.gov/cancer/dataviz, released in June 2022. Accessed 6 June 2022.

⁴Mariotto AB, Enewold L, Zhao J, Zeruto CA, Yabroff KR. Medical Care Costs Associated with Cancer Survivorship in the United States. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev, 2020 Jul;29(7):1304-1312.

⁵Trogdon JG, Liu X, Reeder-Hayes KE, et al. Productivity Costs Associated with Metastatic Breast Cancer in Younger, Midlife, and Older Women. Cancer, 2020 Sep 15;126(18):4118-4125.

⁶SEER*Explorer: An Interactive Website for SEER Cancer Statistics [Internet]. Surveillance Research Program, National Cancer Institute. [Cited 2021 September 27]. Available from https://seer.cancer.gov/statistics-network/explorer/. Accessed 30 March 2022.

⁷United States Department of Health and Human Services (US DHHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Underlying Cause of Death by Single Race 2018-2020 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released 2021. Data are compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Data for year 2018 are compiled from the Multiple Cause of Death File 2018, Series 20, No. 2X, 2020. Accessed at https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/saved/D76/D280F604. Accessed 5 April 2022.

⁸Global Health Estimates 2020: Disease burden by Cause, Age, Sex, by Country and by Region, 2000-2019. Geneva, World Health Organization; 2020.

⁹Kaiser Family Foundation State Health Facts. Health Insurance Coverage of the Total Population (CPS). Data Source: Census Bureau’s March Current Population Survey (CPS: Annual Social and Economic Supplements), 2017-2022. https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/health-insurance-coverage-of-the-total-population-cps/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D. Accessed 14 June 2022.