Breast Cancer on the Rise
Statistics show that despite medical and technological breakthroughs, the number of breast cancer patients has been steadily increasing since the 1960s. Indeed, these statistics on breast cancer are quite alarming. But these numbers are real. We cannot simply run away from them. What we must do is face them squarely.
It is true; there are more breast cancer patients now than fifty years ago. In fact, between 1979 and 1986, the incidence of all breast cancers doubled. When broken down, statistics show that among white women, breast cancer incidence has increased by 29 percent and among blacks the figure is even higher at 41 percent. A more chilling statistic is that the percentage of women who die from breast cancer for the past fifty years has remained unchanged. Despite the advances in science, technology and healthcare, this still happens. In fact, a woman dies of breast cancer every twelve minutes since the 1960s.
In the United States of America, more than 200,000 breast cancer cases are diagnosed every year. In the United Kingdom, over forty thousand new breast cancer cases are diagnosed every year. In Canada there are about twenty thousand new cases and in Australia around thirteen thousand new breast cancer cases are discovered every year.
Surveys also show that breast cancer is the number one disease feared by women. And rightfully so. To date, breast cancer is the number one killer of all women between the age of 35 to 54. It is also projected that half of the more than two million women who currently have breast cancer will be dead within ten years.
The scary thing about breast cancer is that is does not discriminate. Young and old, black and white, single or worried: all are at risk of acquiring the dreaded disease. It is said that one in every nine women will get breast cancer at some period in her life.
Though every woman are at risk of getting breast cancer, record show that eighty percent of the cases found are among women fifty years old and above. There are several controllable and uncontrollable factors that affect ones susceptibility to breast cancer. The best thing that a woman can do is to learn about the controllable factors as much as possible. The controllable factors are mostly made up of lifestyle choices and daily habits and behaviors that have started at an early age but only express its damage in the latter parts of life. Some of the controllable factors linked with breast cancer are use of oral contraceptives, obesity and eating a diet high in fat, undergoing hormone replacement therapy and a family history of breast cancer.
It is also important for women to know that most breast cancers are related to hormones. There are also other factors that make one more at risk to breast cancer such as carcinogens, stress, excessive alcohol drinking, smoking, caffeine and exposure to radiation and pesticides.
The best defense against breast cancer is regular self breast examination because this often leads to early detection of tumors. Do not be afraid to find symptoms. Finding symptoms does not automatically mean that you have breast cancer. In a brighter statistic, six out of every seven patients, who are diagnosed with breast cancer has been cured at an early stage. This is why it is very important to detect breast cancer at an early stage.
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