Dr. Ariel E. Pollock
Breast cancer isn’t just a disease that affects women over 50 — and it never has been.
Year after year, the number of younger women being diagnosed with the disease continues to increase at an alarming rate.
During the most recent decade of data, the American Cancer Society found that overall invasive breast cancer rates increased by 1% per year between 2012 to 2021. When narrowing those numbers down to women under 50, the rate of diagnosis increased by nearly 40%.
While the overall incidence of breast cancer in younger women is still relatively low, it’s a concerning trend, as their malignancies tend to be more aggressive, often reaching the lymph nodes and having a larger tumor size. Currently, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women ages 20 to 49 in the U.S.
It is therefore unsurprising that in 2024, the United States Preventive Services Task Force revised its breast cancer screening recommendations, encouraging women to start receiving biennial mammograms at age 40 instead of waiting until age 50.
However, screenings at an earlier age can come with their own set of complications. Younger women tend to have denser breast tissue, which can limit the detection of smaller tumors, unfortunately making is more challenging to diagnose breast cancer at an earlier stage.
So, what’s driving the rise in breast cancer rates among women under 50?
Researchers say the answer is complicated and involves multiple factors. The increase is believed to be partly due to rising obesity rates and decreasing physical activity levels. Regular exercise is known to reduce the risk of many types of cancer.
Another factor is thought to be childbirth.
More women are choosing to have children later in life or not at all. Women who give birth tend to have a lower risk of breast cancer than those who never do. The risk of breast cancer also increases for women who have their first child after age 35.
Ultimately, what this data tells us is that we can’t assume that there’s nothing to worry about when it comes to younger women. We need to make sure that if a woman under 50 notices an abnormality, she should receive immediate follow-up care. For women with dense breast tissue or whose mammograms turn up anomalies, doctors may recommend an ultrasound or MRI for a more detailed evaluation.
While the number of younger women being diagnosed with breast cancer each year is still small — about 49 per 100,000 in 2019 — the increasing rate cannot and should not be ignored. It’s important for young women to advocate for themselves to ensure that treatment is not delayed. Early detection and intervention could mean the difference between life and death.
For more information, please visit AdvocateRO.com.
Dr. Ariel E. Pollock is a board-certified radiation oncologist with Advocate Radiation Oncology and sees patients at the practice’s cancer treatment centers in Cape Coral and Fort Myers.