Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Population Health Research Brief Series

Breast Cancer Diagnoses are Increasing among Racial and Ethnic Minority Women in the U.S.

Esther Oshaji

March 2025

Lerner Center Population Health Research Brief Series

Abstract

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and a leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States. This data slice uses data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program (SEER) Incidence Database to examine trends in breast cancer incidence rates among women by race and ethnicity in the U.S. from 2000 to 2021.

The author finds that, while incidence rates remain highest among non-Hispanic White women, the largest increases in diagnoses have been among American Indian/Alaska Native Asian/Pacific Islander women.

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