Facts and stats: Triple-negative breast cancer

Overall, breast cancer is quite common. Estimates suggest that in 2023, there will be around 298,000 new cases of female breast cancer in the United States.

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TNBC accounts for about 10–15% of all breast cancers.

The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI’s) Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program shows that TNBC affects 13 in every 100,000 females in the United States.

Various risk factors raise the likelihood of developing TNBC.

These include:

• Race: Black and Latinx people are more likely to receive a TNBC diagnosis than white people.
• Age: TNBC is more likely to present in people below the age of 40 years.
• Genetic mutations: The BRCA1 gene mutation puts someone at higher risk of TNBC.

Research shows that Black women’s risk of TNBC is 2.7 times as high as that of white women. This might be due to a mix of biological and behavioral factors.

Another factor is that in the United States, obesity disproportionately affects Black people. Recent research suggests that 57.2% of African American women in the United States have obesity compared with 38.2% of non-Hispanic white women.

Obesity increases the risk of developing TNBC. A 2016 study found that premenopausal women with a BMI of 30 or above had an 82% higher risk of developing TNBC compared with women with a BMI below 25. The participants in the highest weight quartile had a 79% increased risk of TNBC compared with those in the lowest quartile.

Additionally, the BRCA1 gene helps suppress the growth of tumors. In women with a mutation in the BRAC1 gene, breast cancer is more common, as is TNBC specifically.

According to the NCI, in the general population, about 13% of females will receive a diagnosis of breast cancer in their lifetime. Among those with the BRCA1 mutation, 55–72% will have breast cancer by the age of 70–80 years.

Chemotherapy is typically the first-line treatment for TNBC. Other treatment options include surgery, radiation therapy, and targeted drugs.

TNBC often responds well to chemotherapy in the beginning, but even with treatment, it can still return. TNBC is more likely to recur than other forms of breast cancer.

A 2019 study found that 40% of people with stage 1 to stage 3 TNBC will experience a recurrence of their cancer even after standard treatments.

The outlook for people with TNBC is better for white people than Black people. African American women are 28% more likely to die from TNBC than white women, even after accounting for differences in social and economic factors.

Research also suggests that people of different races with TNBC receive different standards of care and treatment.

A 2021 study found that African American women were 31% less likely to receive surgery for their TNBC than white women with the same diagnosis. They were also 11% less likely to receive chemotherapy.

The SEER database provides data on the survival of people who received a TNBC diagnosis between 2012 and 2018.

The overall 5-year relative survival rate for TNBC, combining all stages of the disease, is 77%. This statistic shows the likelihood of a person with TNBC living for 5 years after their diagnosis compared with people without the disease.

The SEER statistics also show the following 5-year relative survival rates:

• 91% for people with localized TNBC that has not spread beyond the breast.
• 66% for people with regional TNBC that has spread to nearby lymph nodes and other structures.
• 12% for those with distance TNBC that has spread to distant organs in the body.

These are the most recent data available, but it is important to note that people who receive a diagnosis now may have a better outlook due to advances in knowledge and treatment.