Kentucky breast cancer report card

The Kentucky Breast Cancer Task Force in conjunction with the Kentucky Cancer Registry and the Kentucky Cancer Program has prepared a Breast Cancer Report Card concerning the incidence and mortality of this disease among Kentucky women for the period of 1995 to 2000. Comparison of Kentucky data with those from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program of the National Cancer Institute reveals that the incidence rate of breast cancer in Kentucky is lower than that for the SEER population. The incidence of "early" stage disease is significantly lower among Kentucky women, but the incidence of "late" stage disease is similar in both data sets. The incidence rate is lower in rural than urban Kentucky, and is lowest in rural Appalachian Kentucky. The ratio of "early" to "late" stage breast cancer is lower for Kentucky women than for the SEER population and lowest in women over age 65, the group in which approximately half of the new cases of breast cancer are detected each year. Mortality rates are similar for Kentucky and for the SEER population. Improving the breast cancer mortality rate in Kentucky will depend on increased case-finding of "early" stage disease and increasing the ratio of "early" to "late" stage incident cases.