7 Facts For Breast Cancer Awareness Month

breast cancer awareness facts bcaOctober is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we want to show our support. So throughout the month we'll be posting some informative blogs that help this cause. What do we have today? To start off the month we pulled some facts together to help things in perspective. And of course, we've cited the sources so if you want more info... you can get it! Stay tuned for more BCA content and in the mean time here are some interesting tidbits.

 

1. About 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer will occur among women in the U.S. during 2009. (National Cancer Institute)

 

2. About 1,910 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009. (National Cancer Institute)

 

3. Approximately 5-10 percent of breast cancer is inherited, due to strong genetic factors. (Michigan Department of Community Health, February 2009)

 

4. Among some of the protective factors that may decrease the risk of breast cancer is exercise. (National Cancer Institute)

 

5. Women over 40 should have mammograms every 1 to 2 years. A woman should talk to her health care provider about having them before she is 40 if she has increased risk factors. (National Cancer Institute)

 

6. The chance of getting breast cancer goes up as a woman gets older. Most cases of breast cancer occur in women over 60. (MedicineNet.com)

 

7. Women who have had children may have a slightly lower breast cancer risk later on in life. Also, women who breastfeed might lower their breast cancer risk as well, due to changes in hormones. (American Cancer Society)

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Comments

 Its great to rally for

 Its great to rally for Breast Cancer awareness, but I'm wondering why not much is ever said about Prostate Cancer.  The numbers for prostate cancer are just as scary to look at for 2009:
 
 

  • about 192, 280 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed
  • 27,360 men will die of prostate cancer

 
 www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_1X_What_are_the_key_statistics_for_prostate_cancer_36.asp
Prostate Cancer is represented by a light blue ribbon, and the month of September.  How come I didn't hear squat about it last month?

I think you bring up a good

I think you bring up a good point. There are lots of good causes out there that don't get a lot of attention that they deserve. TOG is geared towards presenting young women and their views so for ourselves, we thought it was appropriate to run this campaign. The feedback we have received has been very positive and inspiring. What I love about the web is that now with Web 2.0 tools, you can go beyond being a critic and create the change you'd like to see. So if you ever do run your own awareness campaign please let us know and we'll check it out;)

Great info!

 Although I am so not looking to mammograms I know it is necessary. As women we often take for granted the need to take care of our bodies...remember we use it to create life!