EPHRATA (PRNewswire) – The Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition is hailing the news that United States breast cancer rates dropped drastically in 2003, as first reported by the Associated Press in a Dec. 14 article.
The report indicates a 7.2 percent decline in breast cancer diagnosis in 2003. The decline is attributed to the fact that fewer women are taking hormone pills following the federal study that revealed that menopause hormones often put women at higher risk for breast cancer, heart disease, and other health issues. The study caused millions of women to stop taking the pills.
“It is startlingly good news to know that breast cancer rates decreased so dramatically in 2003,” said PBCC President & Founder Pat Halpin-Murphy.
“Our goal now must be to build upon these findings and uncover exactly why such a decrease occurred, and how we can use these findings in our search toward a cure for breast cancer.”
Recent trends suggested that approximately 200,000 cases of breast cancer would be diagnosed in 2003. The seven percent drop indicates that
about 14,000 fewer cases were diagnosed.