For many years, Marin County had one of the highest rates of breast cancer in California. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) responded to local community concerns by undertaking a number of projects with the purpose of understanding more about elevated breast cancer rates in the County.
Compared to the average California population, women in Marin have more risk factors including higher socioeconomic status, later childbearing, fewer children, more frequent alcohol consumption, and higher levels of education. The Marin Women's Study is researching the impact of these established risk factors as well as other known and suspected risk factors in Marin among women with breast cancer and among women without the disease.