Asian American, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander individuals make up about 8% of the U.S. population. The term “Asian” refers to people with origins in the Far East, Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinent. This includes, but is not limited to Asian Indian, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Pakistani and Vietnamese individuals. The term “Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders” refers to people with origins in Hawaii, Guam, Samoa or other Pacific Islands. According to the U.S. Census, a person may be Asian American or Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander alone or in combination with other races. While Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are distinct racial groups with very different cancer profiles, demographics and health data are usually combined. Asian and Pacific Islander women in the U.S. have a lower incidence of breast cancer than white women and Black women. However, the incidence rate in this group increased by about 2% a year from 2018 to 2022. This increase may reflect post-pandemic “catch-up” on mammography and diagnoses in 2021. It also may reflect the influence of Asian immigrants, who have a higher breast cancer risk than U.S.-born Asian women.

Breast cancer incidence rates also vary among different Asian American ethnic groups. For example, Samoan American and Hawaiian women have higher rates of breast cancer than Chinese American and Vietnamese American women. A common misconception is that breast cancer is rare among Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women in the U.S., but this isn’t true. Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women of every Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander group in the U.S. About 1 in 10 women in these groups will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Breast cancer is also the second leading cause of cancer death among many Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women. However, it’s the leading cause of cancer death among Guamanian, Samoan, Asian Indian and Filipino women in the U.S. To learn more about breast cancer in Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women, you can visit the Breast Cancer Statistics page on komen.org.