Abstract
Advances in breast cancer science, early detection, and treatment have resulted in improvements in breast cancer survival but not in breast cancer incidence. After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in the United States. Each year, nearly a quarter million U.S. women receive a breast cancer diagnosis, and the number continues to rise each year with the growth in the population of older women. Although much remains to be understood about breast cancer origins and prevention, action can be taken on the existing scientific knowledge to address the systemic factors that drive breast cancer risk at the population level. The California Breast Cancer Research Program funded a team at Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP) to convene leaders in advocacy, policy, and research related to breast cancer prevention from across the state of California. The objective was the development of a strategic plan to direct collective efforts toward specific and measurable objectives to reduce the incidence of breast cancer. The structured, innovative approach used by BCPP to integrate scientific evidence with community perspectives provides a model for other states to consider, to potentially change the future trajectory of breast cancer incidence in the United States.
Highlights
For many women and their health care providers, breast cancer prevention is synonymous with mammography screening
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) priorities for comprehensive cancer control emphasize: the primary prevention of cancer; coordination of early detection and treatment activities; the public health needs of cancer survivors; use of policies, systems, and environmental strategies to guide sustainable cancer control; promotion of health equity as it relates to cancer control; and measurement of outcomes through evaluation
Dedicated and passionate stakeholders continue to work with Cancer Control Program (CCCP) and California Dialogue on Cancer (CDOC) to develop objectives to guide the work of reducing the breast cancer burden in California
Summary
For many women and their health care providers, breast cancer prevention is synonymous with mammography screening. Regular breast cancer screening of asymptomatic women through mammography is considered a form of secondary prevention, because the early detection of breast cancer through screening can lead to more effective treatment, better outcomes, and fewer deaths [1]. The decline in breast cancer mortality from 1975 to 2000 was attributed, in part, to mammography screening [2], improvements in treatment likely drove most of that and subsequent declines [3,4]. Just as the World Health Organization has defined health as more than the absence of disease, breast cancer prevention is more than the absence of deaths from breast cancer. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 714 breast cancer, reducing cancer incidence, requires addressing the multitude of factors that drive breast tumor initiation and development. This article describes a structured, innovative approach to integrate scientific evidence with community perspectives to develop a plan to reduce the incidence of breast cancer in California
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