Roundup: Breast Cancer Diagnoses for Women Under 50 Rising Steadily Since 2012; and More News

Report Cites Steady Increases in Breast Cancer Rates for All Women Under 50 and Some Minorities Since 2012

Breast cancer mortality rates overall have dropped by 44 percent since 1989, but there is an upward trend in breast cancer diagnoses, rising by 1 percent annually during 2012-2021, according to the American Cancer Society’s update on breast cancer statistics.

The steepest increase in rates was among women younger than 50 years (1.4 percent per year) and Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) women of any age (2.5 percent-2.7 percent per year).

“The encouraging news is breast cancer mortality rates continue to decrease thanks to advances in early detection and treatment,” said Angela Giaquinto, associate scientist, Cancer Surveillance Research at the American Cancer Society, and lead author of the study, in a statement. “But future progress may be thwarted by increasing incidence, especially among younger women, and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as delayed diagnosis due to interruptions in screening.”

Key findings from the American Cancer Society report include:

• Black women continue to have a 38 percent higher breast cancer mortality rate than White women, despite a 5 percent lower incidence. Black women also have lower survival than White women for every breast cancer subtype and stage of diagnosis -- except localized disease, with which they are 10 percent less likely to be diagnosed (58 percent versus 68 percent).
• American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women have a 10 percent lower breast cancer incidence than White women, but a 6 percent higher mortality. And only 51 percent of AIAN women 40 years or older had a mammogram in the past two years, compared to 68 percent of White women. 
• Breast cancer has increased in Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) women under 50 years of age by 50 percent since 2000, surpassing the rate in young Hispanic, AIAN, and Black women to become the highest rate alongside White women (both 86 per 100,000).

For the report, researchers analyzed population-based cancer incidence and mortality data collected by the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program (part of the National Institutes of Health), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR), and the National Center for Health Statistics.

Find a breast cancer specialist who understands your unique experience.

Routine Vaccinations Among Kindergartners Decrease Again, Concerning U.S. Health Officials

A record share of kindergartners in the U.S. had an exemption for required vaccinations last school year, leaving about 127,000 new schoolchildren without coverage for at least one state-mandated vaccine, according to new data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

During the 2023-2024 school year, vaccination coverage among kindergartners in the U.S. decreased for all reported vaccines from the year before, ranging from 92.3 percent for diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) to 92.7 percent for measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR).

The number of kindergartners attending school without documentation of completing the MMR vaccine series was about 280,000 during the 2023-2024 school year, the CDC said

U.S. public health officials hope that at least 95 percent of children in kindergarten will have received two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, a threshold necessary to help prevent serious outbreaks of the highly contagious diseases.

That rate of 95 percent was maintained for a decade until coverage began to slide during the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to recover. The vaccination rate for measles – considered the most contagious virus -- fell again to 92.7 percent coverage for kindergartners in the 2023-24 school year, according to the CDC data.

Measles is an airborne, extremely infectious, and potentially severe rash illness, the CDC emphasizes.  Before the measles vaccine was introduced in the 1960s, an estimated 48,000 people were hospitalized and 400 to 500 people died in the United States each year.

CDC, FDA Warning: Online Pharmacies are Selling Potentially Counterfeit, Dangerous Meds

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health agencies are issuing warnings about the potential health risks among individuals ordering what they believe to be prescription medications from online pharmacies.

In many cases, the online pharmacies are selling “unregulated counterfeit prescription pills to tens of thousands of individuals in the U.S.,” the CDC states.

The counterfeit pills “frequently contain fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, and methamphetamine,” the CDC adds.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also warns that there are online pharmacies that “claim to sell prescription drugs at deeply discounted prices, often without requiring a prescription.” These pharmacies often “sell unapproved, counterfeit, or otherwise unsafe medicines outside the safeguards followed by licensed pharmacies," the CDC states.

Nearly 95 percent of websites offering prescription-only drugs online operate illegally, according to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.

If you or someone you know has purchased pills from an online pharmacy, here’s what the CDC advises:

• Check to see if the pharmacy is U.S. state-licensed. Locate a State-Licensed Online Pharmacy with the FDA. If you have obtained medications from a pharmacy that is not U.S. state-licensed, do not consume the medication.
• If you suspect you have counterfeit pills from an illegal online pharmacy, do not take them. Dispose of them safely. Beware of online pharmacies that:
• Do not require a doctor's prescription.
• Are not licensed in the U.S. and by your state board of pharmacy.
• Offer deep discounts or prices that seem too good to be true