October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
by Nancy J. Girard

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and it is appropriate to dedicate this column to women who currently have or previously have had this disease. Statistics from 2005 show that the estimated number of deaths related to breast cancer is 15% of the total cancer population, and newly diagnosed breast cancer cases are approximately 32% of all diagnosed cancers. (1) Data also reflect that in the United States, one woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every two minutes. (2)

Ethnic and racial differences exist regarding the incidence of breast cancer. Black women are three times more likely to develop breast cancer than white women; and after the disease has been contracted the death rate among black women also is higher. (3)

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