October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A new report from the American Cancer Society says that while the breast cancer death rate has dropped, cases are on the rise, particularly in women under 50. Scott Brocato spoke with Dr. Shae Pallares, certified nurse midwife with OB/GYN consultants at Mountain View Regional Medical Center, about the new report’s findings.
Scott Brocato:
According to the report, breast cancer has increased during the most recent decade of data by 1% overall, with a steeper increase among women younger than 50 than those 50 or older. Why do you feel there is an uptick on cancer in younger women?
Dr. Shae Palleres:
I mean, this can be due to multiple factors. Definitely lifestyle habits. We definitely don't live a life as full of activity as maybe previous generations. And so decreased activity, increase in processed foods, higher rates of obesity and smoking prevalence, more alcohol intake--these are all factors that can kind of increase and kind of develop earlier development of cancer.
Scott Brocato:
Well, the report also says that breast cancer death rate has dropped by 44% since 1989 due to the advances in treatment and early detection. But breast cancer is still the leading cancer diagnosis among women in the US and the second leading cause of cancer death after lung cancer. So with all of these advances in treatment, why is breast cancer is still the leading cancer diagnosis among U.S. women?
Dr. Shae Palleres:
I mean, definitely we see that we're gonna have more detection rate if we're doing earlier screening. So we're casting that net a little bit wider, but that's also helping catch it at earlier stages so there are better survival rates for these women. There are definitely environmental factors, genetic factors, that are all kind of associated with this, but also I think that, you know, whenever you look, cast your net wider like we said, and start screening earlier, you're going to detect it more. But these are also going to kind of contribute to better outcomes for these women.
Scott Brocato:
Also, according to the report, while black women were found to have a 5% lower rate of breast cancer than white women, they were 38% more likely to die. What do you think that's attributed to?
Dr. Shae Palleres:
I mean, definitely we know that there's barriers to healthcare and outcomes in our black women and black populations in general. Definitely there are kind of socioeconomic barriers and maybe distrust of the healthcare system due to proven instances in the past that kind of cause people to not seek care as soon as possible due to distrust in the healthcare system as a whole. But you know, definitely socioeconomic barriers that are built into the healthcare system can definitely contribute to later onset screening and later onset detection.
Scott Brocato:
In April, the U.S. Preventative Task Force announced new guidelines that women should start getting regular mammograms at age 40, a decade earlier than previous recommendations. Since then, have you seen an increase in mammograms from women at 40, and if so, have you seen an increase in breast cancer findings?
Dr. Shae Palleres:
I mean, we definitely see an increase in screenings. It's definitely not something that people are super excited about doing, but we're all a little bit hesitant whenever we know that that's coming up on our annual exam. But it is definitely part of breast practice for preventative care for ourselves.
So definitely within our practice, we promote it regularly: we give orders, we are very forward thinking, right? We definitely promote it. We talk about why it's beneficial, even though it may not be the most comfortable thing. And so we definitely try to raise awareness so people know that this is the best thing that we can do to kind of take care of themselves. The earlier you screen, the more wide net you cast, the more frequently you're saving people. You're going to detect things more often. But like we said earlier detection at earlier stages can definitely increase the outcome for these women.
Scott Brocato:
And what additional recommendations would you give to women to help prevent breast cancer?
Dr. Shae Palleres:
So definitely something that I find interesting, especially in my practice as a midwife and delivering babies and kind of dealing with women at that life stage, is that breastfeeding can decrease your breast cancer risk by up to 4.3% for each 12-month increment that you breastfeed. So if you have multiple babies, that kind of helps you decrease your lifetime risk. It also can help decrease the cancer risk in women that have BRCA (BReast CAncer) genes, which is a genetic mutation that kind of predisposes or increases the risk for cancer in women. And so it can also help decrease that percentage in women with BRCA carriers as well with breastfeeding over their lifetime.
Other things that are really important for women to kind of know, in my personal opinion, is it doesn't just have to be a lump, right? We're not just looking for the lump, which is the traditional lump mass thing that you hear people talk about that they found. It's skin changes, it's dimpling of the skin, it's redness and irritation and swelling and kind of pain that just does not get better. It's not related to hormonal cycles. And you know your body best. You have abnormal nipple discharge. Obviously a lump or a mass or lump or a bump that you have abnormal, but definitely those other skin changes can also be an indicator that you need to seek care sooner.
Scott Brocato:
Finally, there's a 5K run that's going to be happening on Saturday the 19th. What can you tell us about that?
Dr. Shae Palleres:
So we're partnering with the nonprofit Cancer Warriors Las Cruces for the Cancer Warriors 5K Fun Run and one mile walk on Saturday, October the 19th at NMSU. The runners, walkers, and volunteers will all kind of unite to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives to cancer, honor the cancer survivors, and then raise awareness and raise funds to support local cancer patients. And you can register at raceroster.com.
