Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women, and increasing age is the major risk factor for breast cancer. During 2001–2005, women aged 75–79 years had the highest breast cancer incidence rate of 453.1 per 100,000 [1]. Incidence and mortality data based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program are shown in Fig. 26.1. The median age at diagnosis of breast cancer in the United States is 61 years, and most deaths from breast cancer now occur in women aged 65 years and older [2]. A lower incidence of breast cancer is noted in women of the age 80 years or older and may be due to lower rates of screening, detection of cancers before 80, or incomplete detection. Older women are frequently diagnosed with breast cancer at a higher stage, but survival for Stage I and Stage II breast cancer is similar across age groups [3–5]. The majority of breast cancers in younger and older patients are Stage I or Stage II. About 10% of older patients are likely to present with Stage III or Stage IV disease and some with unknown stage at diagnosis [6].
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Vithala, M.V., Muss, H.B. (2010). Breast Cancer in the Elderly. In: Jatoi, I., Kaufmann, M. (eds) Management of Breast Diseases. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69743-5_26
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69743-5_26
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