Video exaggerates breast cancer deaths in women under 45
The Claim: Cancer deaths for women under 45 will increase more than tenfold between 2019 and 2023
A June 22 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a person talking about alleged breast cancer death rates.
“Have you recently visited cancer.org and looked at their stats?” the person asks. She further claims that there were about 26,000 breast cancer deaths for women age 45 and under between 2019 and 2021.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “It has nothing to do with the shot at all.”
The video, which garnered more than 3,000 likes in less than two weeks, features a banner reading, “We were trying to warn people.”
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Our assessment: False
The numbers in the video are presented as breast cancer deaths for women under 45, but they actually roughly match the estimates of new breast cancer cases projected by the American Cancer Society. The estimated number of breast cancer deaths reported by the organization was much lower. The three numbers quoted in the video — 26,000, 47,000, and 297,000 — are comparable to the expected incidence of breast cancer for women of different age groups, not just women under 45.
Video exaggerates breast cancer deaths
For the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, the American Cancer Society, whose website address is cancer.org, estimated the number of new breast cancer cases for women under 45 at 26,660, 26,500, and 26,510, respectively. In 2022, the organization estimated that the number of new breast cancer cases for women under 50 — not just women under 45 — would total 47,550.
By 2023, the American Cancer Society estimates there will be 297,790 new cases in women of all age groups, not just women under 45. The organization also estimates another 55,720 cases of ductal carcinoma, cancer of the cells that line the milk ducts in the breast.
For women under 45, the American Cancer Society estimated 2,340, 2,320, and 2,310 breast cancer deaths for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. For women under 50, the organization estimated 4,040 breast cancer deaths in 2022 and 3,780 in 2023.
The video suggests that the alleged increase in breast cancer deaths was due to the COVID-19 vaccine. However, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine and Penn Medicine, there is no evidence linking the vaccine to breast cancer.
The COVID-19 vaccine can cause lymph nodes in the armpit to swell. That can sometimes lead to health risks, as swollen lymph nodes can also be a symptom of breast cancer.
“Although swelling of the lymph nodes that some women experience after the vaccine can be misinterpreted as cancer, it is not cancer,” Penn Medicine reported.
Check facts: Thousands of COVID-19 cases continue to be reported each week
USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
The post was also debunked by PolitiFact.
Our Fact Check Resources:
- American Cancer Society, accessed July 3, Cancer Facts & Figures 2023
- American Cancer Society, 2019, estimated number of new cases for the four major cancers by gender and age group, 2019
- American Cancer Society, 2020, estimated number of new cases for the four major cancers by gender and age group, 2020
- American Cancer Society, 2021, estimated number of new cases for the four major cancers by gender and age group, 2021
- American Cancer Society, 2022, estimated number of new cases for the four major cancers by gender and age group, 2022
- American Cancer Society, 2023, estimated number of new cases for the four major cancers by gender and age group, 2023
- American Cancer Society, 2019, estimated number of deaths for the four major cancers by gender and age group, 2019
- American Cancer Society, 2020, Estimated Number of Deaths for the Top Four Cancers by Sex and Age Group, 2020
- American Cancer Society, 2021, estimated number of deaths for the four major cancers by gender and age group, 2021
- American Cancer Society, 2022, estimated number of deaths for the four major cancers by gender and age group, 2022
- American Cancer Society, 2023, estimated number of deaths for the four major cancers by gender and age group, 2023
- Johns Hopkins Medicine, May 18, 2022, COVID-19 Vaccine: Could It Affect Your Mammogram Results?
- Penn Medicine, September 29, 2022, The COVID-19 Vaccine May Affect Mammograms. What to do (and why not to worry!).
- Susan G. Komen, accessed July 4th Age
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