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5 Facts About Young-Onset Breast Cancer Incidence (in Younger UK Women)!
- by Shital
- on November 27, 2024
Your journey to self-care is a wholehearted story worth every step, which will talk about too many paths to embrace your beautiful self-care. Your loving figure will inspire you to take care. It’s an awakening of a revival of attention to women’s concern – a plan for preventive care in breast health. There is nothing more frustrating for women with breast cancer, the journey can seem more numbing, painful, and annihilating than a healthy life.
Being a healthy woman doesn’t rely on her waistline size. Women should start focusing on what truly matters most – their breast health and regular breast screening at the age of 30.
Why you shall not often say, “I began breast screening at the age of 30,” your subconscious mind (affirmatively) would say that was healthy practice was worthwhile. “I had checked my breast today”, “No cancer has been found”, “I’m healthy” – that’s true beauty.
You might gain strength, courage, and confidence by facing fear head-on. You have only today – so let’s get screened.
The Awareness for Breast Cancer Screening health checks has served a real purpose, making us a little bit more conscious of time.
Having had a breast cancer diagnosis is a life-changing event, with lots of uncertainties from diagnosis to recovery — but, one important thing to know, at the end of the journey, you are the same person. You will strip down to near zero. But in the end, most people find, they come out feeling more like themselves.
Fight each stage, facing it head-on, and never give up. Breast cancer is an uncontrolled and abnormal growth of breast cells becoming tumours, is really hard to bear off and equally painful to watch someone you love go through. We know the pain because we have been solving that equation through ‘Koning Vera breast cancer screening’ technology. Let’s make “Breast Cancer” a word, not in your life.
Breast cancer survivors are blessed by gifts to live 2nd lives – so they generally have two life – one before cancer, and one after. Regular breast screening can tell you only your first life, that has going to be so much better.
Now the advances in breast cancer research grew up remarkably better – early detection, improved diagnostics, better breast screening, improved surgical procedure, better radiation therapy, and above all, a deeper understanding of the disease.
Understanding Early-onset Of Breast Cancer (in Younger Women)!
(Early-Onset Breast Cancer in Young Women)
Breast cancer (BC) is a formidable opponent. It can either be ‘invasive’ (meaning, it is far more aggressive to grow and spread) or ‘non-invasive’ (meaning it can’t be yet, but the possibility of future progression).
The majority of breast cancers fall into the invasive category. The stage of cancer is determined by its size and how far it spreads (to nearby tissues, lymph nodes or other distant parts). One early form of BC, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), is non-invasive and also often referred to as stage 0 breast cancer.
What is Early-Onset BC?
It’s a long-established myth that only women at the age of 60 and over are at high risk of developing breast cancer. Breast cancer among adolescents and young adult (AYA) women aged 15 to 39 are likely to have a very poor prognosis and they account for 5.6% of all invasive breast cancer in women.
Breast cancer in young women and those assigned female at birth (AFAB) is categorised as early-onset breast cancer — it is when breast cancer is diagnosed between younger women or 18 and 45 years of age. Or, developing breast cancer among younger women is referred to as early-onset breast cancer!
Younger Women Under 40 are More Likely Vulnerable to Breast Cancer -Trends Shown!
Breast cancer does not discriminate based on age, although most people receive a diagnosis after the age of 50 – thus experts are alarmed by that age for breast cancer diagnoses. While the median age for diagnosis is 62, in many cases, younger women are not unheard of. In fact, even an increasing number of adolescents and young adults are vulnerable to breast cancer, were diagnosed each year.
The concerning trend has been an increase of two per cent annually in the last five years among women under the age of 50, but still in small numbers, approximately ’49 per 100,000 cases’ in 2019. Despite being a small percentage, the mortality rate for younger women under 40 is significantly higher than for older women over 40.
Fortunately, public awareness is built day by day, and several community programmes have been shown to younger women to get regular screenings if they have a family history of BC.
Many celebrities now have openly talked about breast cancer diagnoses, shared powerful insights, their survival tales, and emotional side of dealing with such pains to raise awareness of breast cancer and the importance of regular breast screening. The mainstream media have also tried to solve the puzzle of why young-onset cancer incidence rates are rising in younger people.
Euronoxx Medical investigators and other allied breast oncologists around the world, patient advocates, Koning Vera technology directors, radiologists across the world, and BC survivors, recently met in the ‘2024 Breast Cancer Symposium‘ in collaboration with the London International Medical School at the Royal Society of Medicine. It had a long-standing focus on understanding the urgent need for breast cancer risk factors analysis and developing new treatments, breast screening technology, early interventions, and preventative measures in younger women.
The report came out really surprising, but need more to do aggressive Breast Screening.
- Between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, breast cancer rates in the UK are predicted to grow by less than one per cent.
- According to forecasts, the UK might receive around 69,900 new breast cancer diagnoses each year by 2038-2040.
- Although mortality rates are expected to decrease by 13% in the UK between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040. (Source)
- So, early detection surveillance remains a reality and this approach can considerably raise survival rates.
Despite this, early detection means our ability to accurately detect cancerous lesions and early treatment shall improve health outcomes. This shall improve the UK healthcare system from persistent besetting.
The Key 5 Facts About Young-Onset Breast Cancer in Young UK Women!
1..Young women are at higher risk of aggressive forms of breast cancer!
Breast cancers in women under 40 often show features that lead to a negative prognosis and outcomes that are likely too poor, as more suspected malignancies: such as larger tumour size, advanced-stage metastatic cancers, receptor-negative tumour status, and HER2 protein amplification.
The most aggressive form of breast malignancy TNBC or Triple-negative breast cancer mainly are classified into three markers, estrogen receptor–negative (ER–negative) and progesterone receptor-negative (PR-negative), and overexpression of human epidermal receptor 2 (HER2-positive) – known for fewer treatment options, though that is drastically changing—is also very common in younger women.
The majority of breast cancers (over 70%) are ER-/PR-positive and require estrogen for growth, while about 20-25% of breast cancers are HER2-positive and rely on growth pathways held by this protein.
Additionally, the rate of metastatic breast cancer (stage 4 breast cancer) in women under 40 has risen, only 27% of women diagnosed at stage 1 will survive while those diagnosed at stage 4 survive for 5 or more years.
So, estrogen receptor (ER-) / progesterone receptor (PR-positive) and HER2-positive breast cancers are more common in this age group.
Recurrence rates are higher for younger women at five and ten years following therapy compared to older women.
2..Racial inequalities in breast cancer diagnoses are evident among young Black women!
Black women are likely prone to developing breast cancer almost double. They are likely to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer compared to their white counterparts aged between 20 and 44. Several studies revealed that Black women aged 20 to 39 also have a higher likelihood of developing breast cancer of any subtype compared to other racial and ethnic groups between that age.
3..Genetic risk factors are more prevalent in younger breast cancer patients!
Germline pathogenic variants or inherited gene mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2, which have shown the risk of raising breast cancer, are typically found in young women. Approximately 12% of patients under 45 with breast cancer carry these BRCA mutations, compared to 6% in all women with breast cancer.
4..Hesitation in open discussion on breast cancer symptoms and concerns among young women!
They often struggle to express their symptoms and concerns at an early stage and typically see the breasts as a sexual anatomy. Even sometimes younger women are not aware of any breast cancer symptoms and are not recognised well. In some cases, if she identifies specific concerns, she often feels too shy, fear, and nervous to express their doctor.
Additionally, the lack of routine mammogram breast screening for women under 40 poses a challenge for early detection. Due to a recent change in UK guidelines, mammogram breast screening is now available for women aged 40-49, but those under 40 aren’t usually recommended to have them.
But we need special attention in this age group. We should create more BC screening surveillance in all NHS and NHS-affiliated trusts, and government NGOs, similarly private hospitals should come forth, including clinics, hospitals and charitable NGOs, to install Koning Vera 3D Breast Imaging for UK people for breast cancer screening.
5..Cancer Treatment Put Challenges Among Young Patients!
Fertility is a prime cause of worry among young patients who trying to start or grow their families. Over half of young women express worries about treatment-induced infertility during radiation exposure risk during breast screening, yet few actively seek fertility-preservation options. While these strategies can be effective, they also suffer from additional financial, physical, psychological and emotional strains in Breast Cancer Diagnosis, hence they already facing challenges during the cancer treatment journey.
The early-stage identification and treatment of breast cancer can significantly impact patients’ quality of life, regardless of their age. For younger women, advancements in breast cancer therapies, including innovative chemotherapies and targeted oncology medications, offer promising opportunities to improve treatment outcomes.
Easy Takeaways:
Recent findings emphasise that young women facing breast cancer are often challenged by aggressive disease forms, which leads to poor prognoses. Here, we saw aggressive subtypes like triple-negative breast cancer are more common among younger patients, while the incidence of metastatic breast cancer in women under 40 to rising.
We dedicate this article to empower younger women with important information about breast cancer and encourage them to prioritise regular breast screening to address any potential symptoms quickly.
Over the years, Euronoxx Medical Group has contributed an established incredible amount of knowledge share platform and also set out to sell/install Koning Vera 3D breast imaging UK FDA-approved machine to all healthcare facilities in the UK, Asia, Africa and Caribbean countries.
Email us to know more about 3D breast screening Koning Vera technology UK.