Every October, we see a sea of pink ribbons spotlighting breast cancer awareness.

Awareness is more than wearing pink, appearing at a fundraiser, receiving swag or running a charity race. Awareness means prioritizing preventive care.

Preventive care means early screening. While breast cancer is sometimes found after symptoms, many women with breast cancer have no symptoms, so regular breast cancer screening is vital.

Screening means checking a woman’s breasts for cancer before there are signs or symptoms. Screening cannot prevent breast cancer, but it can help find breast cancer early, catching the disease when it is the most treatable.

Preventive care also means making proactive lifestyle choices. This includes eating a healthy diet, drinking alcohol in moderation and being physically active.

What we need to know:

• Breast cancer is more common than some may realize, accounting for 12.5% of all new annual cancer cases worldwide, making it the most common cancer worldwide.
• About 13% (about 1 in 8) of U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer during their life.
• In 2023, 297,790 new cases of evolving breast cancer are estimated to be diagnosed in U.S. women.
• In 2023, 2,800 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in men. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 833.
• More than 4 million women have a history of breast cancer in the United States, including women currently being treated and women who have finished treatment.
• About 30% of all newly diagnosed cancers in women yearly are breast cancer.
• According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. (Only lung cancer kills more women each year.)

The month-long awareness campaign is working. Breast cancer death rates have been steadily declining since 1989, for an overall decline of 43% through 2020. The decrease in death rates is believed to result from finding breast cancer earlier through screening, increased awareness and better treatments.

As the hustle and bustle of fundraisers, talent shows or “walk, bike or run” races end, don’t let the awareness fade when November arrives.

Keep in mind what awareness really is and prioritize preventive care.