100,000), more than double that in Asian/ Pacific Islander (API) women (11.5), who have the lowest incidence and death rates. This data supports the variability of race and ethnicity as it pertains to breast cancer and contributes to importance of early detection and prevention and screening. I mentioned that understanding breast cancer can be treated at any stage and would like to expound that a little more with a few statistics from the ACS. At the time of diagnosis, approximately 64% of breast cancer patients have local stage breast cancer, which represents a cancer that is confined to the breast, 27% have regional stage breast cancer, which means the cancer has extended to the lymph nodes, mostly located in the armpit, and 6% of patients have distant (metastatic) disease, and this means the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. In my observation of collecting data, I am not sure if there is a greater incidence of triple-negative breast cancer. I personally do not usually see too many…triple-negative breast cancer is definitely more aggressively treated and rightfully so. Celeste: Do you have any additional comments for our readers? Jehan: The best advice I can give is to know your body, and become educated. A good reference for black women and breast cancer is https://aabcainc.org/. The African American Breast Cancer Alliance, Inc. provides information related to survivorship, education, support, and outreach. There are so many resources at our fingertips, I encourage everyone to take advantage of what’s out there. Celeste: Thank you. Jehan A. Reaves, MHA, RHIT, CTR 37
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