Younger U.S. women of color face rising breast cancer deaths, new study finds

01 Jun 2026, 00:30 · Medical Xpress

by Dennis Thompson

edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

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Breast cancer deaths, once concentrated mostly among older women, are now claiming younger women more often, researchers recently reported in the journal npj Breast Cancer.

Survival improved substantially among older women over time, but younger women did not show the same improvement, researchers found.

"Rising mortality among younger women alongside improved survival in older women shows how breast cancer risk is shifting," said senior researcher Stephen Wong, chair in biomedical engineering at Houston Methodist in Texas.

For the new study, researchers analyzed national data from 1975 to 2022 among more than 668,000 women with breast cancer.

Aside from skin cancers, breast cancer is the most common cancer in U.S. women, researchers said in background notes. It accounts for about one in three new female cancers each year, and is the second-leading cause of cancer death in women after lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.

Results showed that young Black women with triple-negative breast cancer—a more aggressive form of the disease—remained the highest-risk group.

However, researchers also found increased death risk among Hispanic and Asian women under 50, particularly those with triple-negative breast cancers.

"Importantly, we found that Asian women under 50 experience poorer outcomes and face an elevated risk of mortality than previously recorded," Wong said in a news release.

The results show that experts need to adopt a more nuanced approach when looking at breast cancer disparities, researchers said.

"Age, race and tumor type should not be treated as separate issues as they interact to drive these disparities," said lead investigator Lin Wang, a research fellow in the Wong Laboratory at Houston Methodist. "When we look at them together, we uncover risks that would otherwise remain hidden."

Publication details

Lin Wang et al, Disparities in breast cancer incidence and survival by age, race, and molecular subtype in US women, npj Breast Cancer (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41523-026-00935-y

Journal information: npj Breast Cancer , Cancer

Key medical concepts

Breast CarcinomasTriple-Negative Breast CarcinomaSkin NeoplasmsLung Carcinoma

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OncologyWomen's healthCommon illnesses & Prevention Who's behind this story?

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