The rate of new breast cancer cases has increased over the last five decades.

The mortality rate improved over the same span with better medicines, earlier treatments and innovations such as 3D mammograms, but the mortality rate decrease has slowed down, according to the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

Today, The Vindicator turns pink in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We will present the journeys of breast cancer survivors on the Health Page on Tuesdays in October as well as news updates and events throughout the month.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month was founded as an international campaign in 1985 by the American Cancer Society and Imperial Chemical Industries, which is now part of AstraZeneca, which manufactures several anti-breast cancer medications. The purpose of the month is to increase awareness of the disease and to raise money for research for treatments and a cure.

Statistics show that virtually everyone in the United States and around the world is affected by breast cancer, either their own or a close relative’s. While predominately a disease that hits women, men also can be victims of breast cancer. The American Cancer Society projects 281,550 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the United States, as well as 2,650 new cases of breast cancer in men.

Nationwide, in 1975, one in 11 women — a touch more than 9 percent — would be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in their lifetime. This year, the estimate is one in eight, or nearly 13 percent, according to the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

The mortality rate from breast cancer is projected to be less than 1 percent — about 20 deaths for every 100,000 women. The mortality rate had been decreasing by about 1.9 percent a year between 1998 and 2013, but has slowed to about 1 percent annual decline. Rates are expected to increase as the aging population grows. The median age at death from breast cancer is about 69.

Here are some further statistics from the American Cancer Society on projected 2021 rates of breast cancer in women in Ohio and the United States:

• Estimated new cases, Ohio, 2021 — 10,450. That’s the most prominent of new cases, slightly ahead of lung and bronchus cancers, at 10,350 new cases;

• Estimated new cases, U.S., 2021 — 281,550. That’s the most prominent of new cases, trailed by prostate cancer, with 248,530 new cases;

• Estimated deaths, Ohio, 2021 — 1,720. That trails lung and bronchus cancers at 6,180; colon and rectum cancers at 2,110; and prostate cancer at 2,000;

• Estimated deaths, U.S., 2021 — 43,600. That trails lung and bronchus cancers, 131,880; colon and rectum cancers, 53,980; and pancreatic cancer, 48,220;

• Estimated rate of new cases, Ohio, 2021 — 441.3 per 100,000 people (age adjusted);

• Estimated rate of new cases, U.S., 2021 — 126.0 per 100,000 people (age adjusted);

• Estimated rate of deaths, Ohio, 2021 — 21.9 per 100,000 people (age adjusted);

• Estimated rate of deaths, U.S., 2021 — 20.1 per 100,000 people (age adjusted).

The good news is that advances continue and more and more survivors are here to tell their stories, and will do so in these pages this month.