Report: Breast cancer rates fall 2 percent per year

While disparities in mortality rates still exist between whites and blacks, the rate of women dying in the U.S. from breast cancer has continued to fall in recent years, according to a new report.

Since 1990, the rate of U.S. deaths from breast cancer has fallen more than 2 percent each year. For the past 10 years, black, Hispanic and white women have benefited from this decrease, but black women still have a 40 percent higher breast cancer death rate, according to the report, which was backed by the American Cancer Society.

This translates into a 30 percent drop in breast cancer death rates since 2006, meaning about 130,000 women lived who might not have survived before, researchers note.

To speed the decrease in deaths, women need more access to mammography, more targeted treatment, and better treatment access for poor and uninsured women, the Society report said.

To learn more about this report:
- read this HealthDay News piece

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