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Northern Kentucky Women's Cancer Coalition
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Facts About Breast Cancer

American Cancer Society’s guidelines for breast cancer screening:

  • Yearly mammograms are recommended starting at age 40 and continuing for as long as a woman is in good health.
  • Clinical breast exam should be part of a periodic health exam, about every three years for women in their 20’s and 30’s and every year for women 40 and over.
  • Women should know how their breasts normally feel and report any breast change promptly to their health care providers. Breast self-exam (BSE) is an option for women starting in their 20’s.
  • Women at increased risk (for example, family history, genetic tendency, past breast cancer) should talk with their doctors about the benefits and limitations of starting mammography screening earlier, having additional tests (for example, breast ultrasound or MRI), or having more frequent exams.

Other statistics:

  • One in eight women will develop breast cancer at some time in her life. In the United States a woman has about a 13 percent lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. 
  • Only 5-to-10 percent of breast cancers occur in women with a history of breast cancer in her family.
  • The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 3,000 Kentucky women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.
  • The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 600 Kentucky women will die of breast cancer each year.

    More information:


    American Cancer Society


    Kentucky Women’s Cancer Screening Program


    Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

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