Truth #10: Risk of breast cancer increases with age; 50% of breast cancer occurs among women aged 62 years or older.

TRUE. Breast cancer is primarily a disease of older women, with the median age of diagnosis at 61 years of age.

It is estimated that a woman age 20 has about a 5 in 10,000 risk of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years; for a woman age 40, it is about 1 in 100, and for a woman age 60, it is about 1 in 28.

A 20-year old woman has a lower risk of dying from breast cancer than a 70-year old man.

 
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Young women are much less likely to get the disease than older women, but women of all ages can do something to push back against the odds: use your voice to demand the scientific research and legislative changes needed to eradicate breast cancer. Learn how.

 

31 Myths and Truths about Breast Cancer

1
Myth #1: Monthly breast self exams save lives
2
Myth #2: Mammograms can only help and not harm you
3
Myth #3: MRI is better than mammography because it finds more cancer
4
Truth #4: When breast cancer shows up on a mammogram, it may have been in your body for 6-10 years
5
Truth #5: Breast cancer mortality rates are declining
6
Myth #6: Mammograms prevent breast cancer
7
Truth #7: We don’t know how to prevent breast cancer
8
Myth #8: Most women with breast cancer have a family history of the disease
9
Myth #9: Men don’t get breast cancer
10
Truth #10: Risk of breast cancer increases with age
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Truth #11: Most people think they have a higher risk of breast cancer than they actually do
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Myth #12: Everyone's breast cancer is the same
13
Myth #13: Everyone who has a positive BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 test result will get breast cancer
14
Truth #14: The mortality rate from breast cancer is higher for African American women than for Caucasian women
15
Myth #15: In terms of survival, removing the entire breast is better than just cutting the cancer out and getting radiation
16
Myth #16: There are drugs that can prevent breast cancer
17
Myth #17: Once diagnosed with breast cancer, it’s very important to make treatment decisions immediately
18
Myth #18: Second opinions are only for treatment options. Once I know I have breast cancer, I can get a second opinion on how to treat the disease
19
Truth #19: Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increases your risk of breast cancer
20
Myth #20: With new treatments we can now cure breast cancer
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Truth #21: You should question your doctor
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Myth #22: If I am not a scientist, then I won’t be able to understand breast cancer research
23
Truth #23: Your tax dollars fund a significant amount of breast cancer research
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Myth #24: My Senators and Members of Congress have no role in what happens in breast cancer
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Myth #25: The media accurately reports breast cancer science
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Myth #26: All breast cancer research is good because it moves us toward prevention and a cure
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Myth #27: Breast cancer survivors are too close to the issue to participate in how research money is spent
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Truth #28: Less than 3% of adult cancer patients participate in clinical trials
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Truth #29: I can educate myself
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Truth #30: I can influence what happens in Washington D.C. about breast cancer
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Truth #31: I can make a difference