Breast cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related illness and premature death among women worldwide. In 2023, there were an estimated 2.3 million new breast cancer cases and 764,000 deaths, resulting in around 24 million years of healthy life lost due to illness and early mortality.

Over a quarter of healthy years lost to breast cancer are due to six modifiable risk factors, including high red meat intake, tobacco, high blood sugar, and high BMI—offering important opportunities for prevention.

The number of new breast cancer cases worldwide is predicted to rise by a third from 2.3 million in 2023 to over 3.5 million in 2050; and the annual global breast cancer death toll is forecast to increase by 44% from 764,000 to nearly 1.4 million.

The authors say that progress towards ensuring all women have an equal chance to survive breast cancer can only be achieved through a combination of aggressive prevention strategies, ensuring well-functioning health systems capable of early diagnosis and comprehensive treatment, and making cancer services both accessible and affordable to all.

Despite recent advancements in breast cancer treatments, new breast cancer cases in women are predicted to rise by a third globally from 2.3 million in 2023 to more than 3.5 million in 2050. Similarly, yearly deaths from the disease are projected to surge 44%, from around 764,000 to 1.4 million, with disproportionate impact in countries with limited resources, according to a major new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study Breast Cancer Collaborators, published in The Lancet Oncology. 

People with chronic back pain process everyday sounds differently, and more intensely, than people without pain, according to new research from the University of Colorado Anschutz.

Published today in Annals of Neurology, the study is one of the first to tie this sound hypersensitivity to specific, measurable changes in the brain, indicating that chronic back pain affects far more than the back. The research also shows there’s an effective treatment that can help.

“Our findings validate what many patients have been saying for years that everyday sounds genuinely feel harsher and more intense. Their brains are responding differently, in regions that process both the loudness of sound and its emotional impact. This tells us chronic back pain isn’t just about the back. There’s a broader sensory amplification happening in the brain, and that opens the door for treatments that can help turn that volume down,” said the paper’s senior author Yoni Ashar, PhD, assistant professor of internal medicine and co-director of the Pain Science Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine. 

NYU Langone Health orthopedic experts are presenting their latest clinical findings and research discoveries at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), held March 2 to 6 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Scientists have identified molecular and structural changes in taste buds that may explain why a small subset of people experience long-term taste loss after COVID-19 infection.