Screening mammography for breast cancer: American College of Preventive Medicine practice policy statement.

Burden of suffering Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and is the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. Projected for 1996 are 184,300 new cases of breast cancer and 44,300 breast cancer deaths. The five-year survival rate is 84% for Caucasian, non-Hispanic women and 69% for African-American women.(1) Risk factors for breast cancer include age, family history (FH), and familial cancer syndrome (FCS), as well as hormonal factors such as early menarche, late menopause, late parity, and nulliparity; however, the majority of women with breast cancer have no known risk factors. Risk factors, pathogenesis, prognosis, and course differ significantly in premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer.(2)