HEALTH : Breast Cancer Risk Increases

The risk that an average American woman will develop breast cancer some time during her life jumped from one in 10 to one in nine in 1991, the American Cancer Society announced today.

The projected increase is the first for breast cancer since 1987, when the estimated risk of the disease rose from one in 11 to one in 10, the society said.

Overall, 1.1 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed among Americans in 1991 and about 514,000 people will die of the disease--about 1,400 each day, the society estimated. In 1990, the society projected that just over 1 million new cases of cancer will be reported and about 510,000 Americans will die.

The higher estimate for breast cancer was based on increased incidence of the disease in the 1980s and a longer life expectancy for women, which increases the risk.