Early detection, support and fundraising — those are the primary goals of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which takes place every October. It’s 31 days to recognize the most common cancer afflicting American women, excluding skin cancer, which impacts about 1 in 8 women.
Researchers, doctors and organizations use the month to inform women about what they need to know, including breast self-awareness, screening recommendations, risk factors and more.
This year, one company is promoting the first artificial intelligence tool approved by the Food and Drug Administration to assess a woman’s five-year risk of developing breast cancer.
But what other steps can women take to protect themselves and ensure a long, healthy life?
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Clairity Breast
Everlywell, a digital health, diagnostics and virtual care company, announced and launched its new Clairity Breast AI tool this month, allowing providers to use women’s latest mammograms to assess their future breast cancer risk.
“The information we need to understand a woman’s breast cancer risk has been in her mammogram all along – we just haven’t been able to interpret it until Clairity Breast,” said Dr. Connie Lehman, founder and chief executive officer of Clairity. “Now, it can also inform conversations with your healthcare provider about the best screening and risk reduction options for you.”
Everlywell says knowing their risk of breast cancer helps women and their medical providers guide care.
Clarity says the tool works by identifying micro-structural tissue patterns and markers associated with future breast cancer development. It solely reads mammograms, rather than relying on traditional family history questionnaires or demographic surveys.
The system then sends women a personalized percentage probability and risk score.
What other steps can women take?
Clairity Breast isn’t widely accessible to every woman across the U.S. However, women can monitor themselves and estimate their future risk using other methods.
Women can practice breast self-awareness by knowing how their breasts normally look and feel and watching for changes. The National Breast Cancer Foundation recommends looking and feeling for any new lumps, masses or thickening in or near the breast, including in the underarm and armpit area.
Other signs and symptoms can include unexplained changes to breast shape and size, and dimpling. Skin texture can also change, including rash development or swelling, and lymph nodes can swell.
Some women report pain in or around the area, but essentially, women should regularly be looking for any changes.
Women who notice any new or unusual breast changes should talk with a healthcare provider.
The other tool to support early detection? Familiarity and screenings. The foundation says it’s important to get recommended screenings, such as mammograms, and women should be aware of all the signs and symptoms of breast cancer.
Why breast cancer?
There are hundreds of forms of cancer, so why is October dedicated to this one type? It’s because of its commonality and the organizations that have been vocal in sharing women’s stories, tips and research.
One in eight women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. That means 382,640 will be diagnosed in 2026, and 321,910 of those cases will likely be invasive.
And while breast cancer has a relative survival rate of about five years, the foundation says the survival rate is over 99% when the disease is caught in its earlier, most localized stages.
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