Breast cancer in Nebraska: recent trends in incidence, mortality, and screening

Data from the Nebraska Cancer Registry indicate that the State's female breast cancer incidence rate did not increase or decrease significantly during the period 1987-1993, although the percentage of in situ diagnoses increased from 8% to 13%. Similarly, breast cancer mortality among Nebraska women has remained relatively constant during the past decade (1985-1994). According to Nebraska's Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, screening mammography rates among Nebraska women have shown striking increases in recent years: in 1994, nearly half (48%) of all women 50 and older reported that they had had a mammogram within the past year, up from 24% in 1988. Nebraska's breast cancer incidence, mortality, and screening rates remain lower than U.S. rates.