Breast Cancer Hits Record High, U.S. Agency Reports

Breast cancer has risen to the highest rate in history, while lung cancer among men has dropped to the lowest rate this decade, according to a new federal report.

The statistics used in the report are from the years 1950 to 1985 and were compiled by the National Cancer Institute from a variety of studies to present what the agency calls “a very general picture” of cancer incidence, mortality and survival over 3 1/2 decades in America.

Cancer deaths, in general, the report said, are declining for most age groups, though there are increases in death and incidence in specific types of cancer.

The breast cancer rate among American women in 1985 was between 104 and 107 per 100,000, “the highest incidence rates ever recorded,” the report said. The rate increased 17% from 1975 to 1985.

The report said the rates increase very steeply in post-menopausal women. For women under 50, the rate is 32.8 per 100,000, while for those over 50, the rate is 335.

The report said the recent trend of increasing rates of breast cancer “may be due in part to increased screening activities” but it said the effort is not as successful as it should be.

“The lack of a large decline in mortality (from breast cancer) is strong evidence that little effective screening is taking place,” the report said, because clinical trials have demonstrated that early detection and appropriate treatment “can reduce the mortality rate . . . by over 30%.”

Lung cancer, while still the leading cause of cancer deaths, decreased among males in 1985, the latest year in the study, but continues to increase in women.

The report attributed the downward trend among males to a reduction since 1965 in cigarette smoking.

For white males, there were 80 cases of lung cancer per 100,000 population in 1985, compared to a rate of 84 in 1984. The report said this is the lowest rate since 1977.

For black males, the rate declined from 135.5 per 100,000 in 1984 to 124.7 in 1985, “the lowest rate since 1981 for black males.”

Among females, lung cancer rates have increased generally, but the rate is declining among women under age 45.