Recent Trends in Breast Cancer Mortality Rates for U.S. Women by Age and Race/Ethnicity

To analyze recent trends in U.S. breast cancer mortality rates by age group and race and ethnicity.

This retrospective analysis of female breast cancer mortality rates used National Center for Health Statistics data from 1990 to 2022 for all women, by age group, and by race or ethnicity. Joinpoint analysis assessed trends in breast cancer mortality rates.

Breast cancer mortality rates for women 20 to 39 years old decreased 2.8% per year from 1999 to 2010 but showed no decline from 2010 to 2022 (annual percentage change [APC], -0.01; P = .98). For women of ages 40 to 74 years, breast cancer mortality rates decreased 1.7% to 3.9% per year from 1990 to 2022 (P <.001); a decline was found for all cohorts in this age group except Asian women. For women ≥75 years of age, breast cancer mortality rates declined significantly from 1993 to 2013 (APC, -1.26; P = .01) but showed no evidence of decline from 2013 to 2022 (APC, -0.2; P = .24). Across all ages, breast cancer mortality rates declined for White and Black women but not for Asian, Hispanic, and Native American women. Asian women ≥75 years of age had significantly increasing mortality rates (APC, 0.73; P <.001). For 2004 to 2022, breast cancer mortality rates were 39% higher in Black women than White women and varied strongly by age group: 104% for ages 20 to 39 years, 51% for ages 40 to 74 years, and 13% for ages ≥75 years.

Female breast cancer mortality rates have stopped declining in women <40 years of age and >74 years of age. The higher mortality rates in Black women compared with White women are age dependent and substantially higher in younger women.