Quick Facts: Breast Cancer
- Cancer statistics at a glance. Canadian Cancer Society. Accessed March 2023. https://cancer.ca/en/research/cancer-statistics/cancer-statistics-at-a-glance
- Breast cancer statistics. Canadian Cancer Society. Updated May 2022. Accessed March 2023. https://cancer.ca/en/research/cancer-statistics/cancer-statistics-at-a-glance
- Kirkham, A. A., & Jerzak, K. J. (2022). Prevalence of Breast Cancer Survivors Among Canadian Women. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 20(9), 1005-1011.
- Breast cancer statistics. Canadian Cancer Society. Updated May 2022. Accessed March 2023. https://cancer.ca/en/research/cancer-statistics/cancer-statistics-at-a-glance
- Breast cancer statistics. Canadian Cancer Society. Updated May 2022. Accessed March 2023. https://cancer.ca/en/research/cancer-statistics/cancer-statistics-at-a-glance
Cancer is a word that describes a wide range of similar diseases.
Cancer is a word that describes a wide range of similar diseases. There are over 100 different types of cancer, but they all have a lot in common. Primarily, all cancers are an extreme growth of abnormal cells that your body can’t stop or destroy. These cell growths can spread from one part of the body to another, and they destroy normal, healthy cells.
Cancer cells often form a lump called a tumor, but the word ‘tumor’ does not always mean cancer, or malignant. Some tumors are benign, or noncancerous.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in Canada
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in Canada and is responsible for 28.2% of all deaths.1 Cancer that first begins to grow within the breast is called breast cancer. Breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer diagnosed in women, after skin cancer. It accounts for 25% of all new cancer cases in women.2
1 in 8
It’s estimated that 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. Less than 1% of all breast cancers occur in men – it is estimated that 270 new cases of breast cancer in men will be diagnosed in Canada in 2022.
+233 THOUSAND
cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 20221
28,600 women
will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 20222
2% of Canadian women
are breast cancer survivors3
5,500 women
will die with breast cancer in 2022 – representing 14% of all cancer deaths in women4
89% of women
diagnosed with breast cancer survive for 5 years or more after diagnosis5