Rates of breast cancer vary by race and ethnicity. Whites typically have the highest rates overall, followed by African Americans, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, Hispanics/Latinas and American Indian/Alaskan Natives (see Figure 1.5) [5,9].
Why these differences in breast cancer rates? The biggest reason seems to be that different races and ethnicities simply have different prevalence rates of the established risk factors for breast cancer [41]. Among other factors, age at first period, age at menopause, age at first birth, number of children and postmenopausal hormone use vary by race and ethnicity and are related to breast cancer risk [335]. For example, compared to Hispanic/Latina women, white women are more likely to put off childbirth and to have fewer children, each of which increases the risk of breast cancer [43,335,336].
African American Ethnicity
Although white women are more likely than African American women to develop postmenopausal breast cancer, African American women are more likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer [337-340]. There are several possible reasons for this. African American women appear to have more reproductive factors related to breast cancer risk such as an earlier age at menarche, later age at menopause, a greater number of lifetime periods and higher blood estrogen levels [341-344]. However, at this time the reasons behind the increased risk of premenopausal breast cancer among African American women remain unclear.
For more information on race/ethnicity and breast cancer, click here.
For more on variations in breast cancer rates in the U.S. and across the world, click here.
Updated 08/14/08
