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• The number of newly diagnosed cases of invasive breast cancer varied each year, from over 4,000 to over 6,000. The peak year was 1992 with 6,089 cases.

• The annual age-adjusted incidence rate (number of cases per 100,000 women) rose from 96.0 to 119.2 between 1979 and 1988, then declined to 105.5 in 1995.

• The incidence rate among white women declined each year between 1991 and 1995; the incidence rate among black women declined in 1993 and 1994, then increased in 1995.

• White women had a higher age-adjusted incidence rate than black women each year.

• The age-specific incidence rates increased with each successive five-year age group, except for the 85 and over age group.

• In the younger age groups (20-24 through 35-39) black women had slightly higher incidence rates than white women, but in the older age groups white women had higher incidence rates than black women. The difference between the rates for white and black women generally increased for each successive age group up to age group 80-84.

• The percentage of women diagnosed with breast cancer in the early stages of the disease (in situ and localized) increased from 49 percent in 1985 to 64 percent in 1995.

• The percentage of breast cancer cases diagnosed in the early stages increased for both white women and black women. However, black women had a lower percentage of their breast cancer diagnosed in the early stages than did white women.

• About 1,500 to 1,800 deaths due to breast cancer occurred each year.

• The annual age-adjusted mortality rate (number of deaths per 100,000 women) fluctuated between 27.1 in 1994 and 33.2 in 1985; in the three most recent years, 1993 through 1995, the mortality rate was lower than in any of the fourteen previous years.

• Black women sometimes had a higher mortality rate and sometimes a lower mortality rate than white women in the years 1979 through 1989; but in the most recent years, 1990 through 1995, black women consistently had a higher mortality rate than white women.

• The estimated percentage of women in New Jersey of age 40 and over who had ever had a mammogram increased from 69 percent in 1991 to 78 percent in 1995. However a substantial percentage of women in this age group had never had a mammogram - 22 percent in 1995.

• The estimated percentage of women in New Jersey age 40 and over who had a mammogram within the previous two years fluctuated between 61 percent and 67 percent in the years 1991 to 1995.

• For the combined years 1989-93, the age-adjusted incidence and mortality rates for breast cancer among women in New Jersey were higher than among women in the U.S.

Men

• 794 cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed in men from 1979 to 1995, between 32 and 67 each year.

• The age-adjusted incidence rate varied from 0.9 in 1984 to 1.6 in 1993 and 1994.

• Between 7 and 15 men died of breast cancer each year from 1979 to 1995.

• The annual age-adjusted mortality rate (number of deaths per 100,000 men) varied from 0.2 to 0.4.

• For the combined years 1989-93, the age-adjusted incidence and mortality rates for breast cancer among men in New Jersey were higher than in the U.S.