12 states with the highest breast cancer death rates

Did you know that about 15 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer actually have a family history of breast cancer? Or that one in eight women — or 12.4 percent — will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime?

These numbers come from NationalBreastCancer.Org, while the American Cancer Society report on Cancer Facts & Figures 2015 estimates that there will be 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer to be diagnosed among women in the U.S. this year, with about 2,350 new cases in men.

According to the American Cancer Society report, 61 percent of breast cancer cases that are diagnosed at a localized stage – where it does not spread to lymph nodes, nearby structures or other locations outside the breast – have a 5-year relative survival rate of 99 percent. If the cancer has spread to tissues or lymph nodes under the arm, what is known as the regional stage, the survival rate falls to 85 percent.

However, if the spread is to lymph nodes around the collarbone or to distant lymph nodes or organs, what they call the distant stage, the survival rate falls even more, to 25 percent.

The report also says that while breast cancers will make up 29 percent of all estimated new cancer cases this year, it is the second cause of estimated cancer deaths in women, with 15 percent.

The report states that, with 26 percent of estimated cancer deaths in women, lung and bronchus cancer is at the top of the list. Cancer, in general, is still the second leading cause of death in women in the U.S., with 21.5 percent of all deaths, according to a 2013 report from the CDC. The leading cause of death in women is heart disease, with 22.4 percent.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we bring you the states with the highest breast cancer death rates per 100,000 in women, according to the numbers presented on HealthIndicators.Gov, the data hub for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and maintained by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. We have also included the estimated number of new breast cancer cases by state for 2015.

No. 10: Missouri

Breast cancer death rate: 22.0

Estimated number of new cases for 2015: 4,610

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No. 9: Idaho

Breast cancer death rate: 22.1

Estimated number of new cases for 2015: 1,070

Idaho is also the fifth state with the cheapest Medicare premiums and the second state where insurance costs the least, overall. 

Idaho also came in as the sixth state with the lowest obesity rate, at 24.2 percent, according to a Gallup survey.

No. 8: Illinois

Breast cancer death rate: 22.2

Estimated number of new cases for 2015: 9,570

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No. 7: Tennessee

Breast cancer death rate: 22.4

Estimated number of new cases for 2015: 4,770

Tennessee is the 13th state where insurance costs the least overall.

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Tied for No. 6: Nevada

Breast cancer death rate: 22.5

Estimated number of new cases for 2015: 1,690

Nevada came in as the ninth state where insurance costs the least, overall.

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