Female breast cancer mortality is expected to be about 25.3 per 100,000 women in 2018, with the highest rate in the District of Columbia and the lowest in Utah.
Approximately 40,920 deaths from invasive female breast cancer are predicted in the United States by the American Cancer Society (ACS) in its Cancer Facts & Figures 2018, which is based on analysis of 2001-2015 data from the National Center for Health Statistics. The death rate has declined 39% since its peak in 1989, and over the last 10 years, the annual decline has been 1.8% for white women and 1.5% for black women per year, the ACS said.
The expected number of deaths for 2018, coupled with a current estimate of nearly 162 million women, works out to an expected death rate of 25.3 per 100,000. The Census Bureau estimates for the state populations and the deaths projected by the ACS produce expected death rates of 31.4 per 100,000 for the District of Columbia and 19.0 for Utah. The state with the highest rate is West Virginia at 30.1, and Alaska (20.0) has the next-lowest rate after Utah.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, as it is expected to account for 30% of the almost 880,000 new cancer cases in 2018, compared with 13% for lung cancer, which is second. Lung cancer, however, is projected to cause more deaths among women – 70,500 – than any other cancer, the ACS reported.
