Breast Cancer Risk

Breast Cancer Risk

A risk factor is anything that affects your chance of getting a disease, such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. Having a risk factor, or even several, does not mean that you will get the disease. Most women who have one or more breast cancer risk factors never develop the disease.

In 1940, the lifetime risk of a woman developing breast cancer was 5%, or one in 20. The American Cancer Society estimates that risk to be 13% in 2009, or almost one in eight.

Risk factors do not cause breast cancer, but can increase the chances of getting breast cancer. Some women have many risk factors, but never get breast cancer.


Significantly higher Breast Cancer Risk

A woman with a history of cancer in one breast has a 3- to 4-fold increased risk of developing a new breast cancer, unrelated to the first one, in the other breast or in another part of the same breast. This is different than a recurrence of the previous breast cancer.


There are some Breast Cancer risk factors you can control, and others you cannot.Even if you do not have any of these risk factors, you can still develop breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Risk factors you cannot change:

• Gender ( being a woman )

• Age ( getting older — the older you get, the greater your risk of breast cancer )

• Genetic risk factors (having an inherited mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 breast cancer genes)

• Family history

• Personal history ( a personal history of breast or ovarian cancer )

• Race and ethnicity:

White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than are African-American women. African-American women are more likely to die of this cancer. At least part of this seems to be because African-American women tend to have more aggressive tumors, although why this is the case is not known. Asian, Hispanic, and Native-American women have a lower risk of developing and dying from breast cancer.

• Dense breast tissue ( having high breast density on a mammogram )

• Certain benign breast conditions

• Lobular carcinoma in situ

• Menstrual periods (starting menopause after age 55) (being younger than 12 at the time of your first period)

• Previous chest radiation ( being exposed to large amounts of radiation, such as very frequent spine X-rays for scoliosis or treatment for Hodgkin’s disease at a young age)

• Diethylstilbestrol exposure

• Having a previous biopsy showing hyperplasia

• Having your first child after age 35

• High bone density

Lifestyle-related factors and breast cancer risk

• Never having children or having them later in life ( having your first child after age 35 )

Having many pregnancies and becoming pregnant at a young age reduce breast cancer risk. Pregnancy reduces a woman's total number of lifetime menstrual cycles, which may be the reason for this effect.

• Recent oral contraceptive use ( current or recent use of birth control pills )

Women who stopped using oral contraceptives more than 10 years ago do not appear to have any increased breast cancer risk. )

• Using post-menopausal hormone therapy (postmenopausal hormone use (current or recent use of estrogen or estrogen plus progestin)

• Not breast-feeding ( Some studies suggest that breast-feeding may slightly lower breast cancer risk, especially if breast-feeding is continued for 1½ to 2 years. )

• Having more than one drink of alcohol per day

Excessive alcohol use is also known to increase the risk of developing cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and liver. The American Cancer Society recommends that women limit their consumption of alcohol to no more than one drink a day.

• Being overweight or obese (being overweight after menopause or gaining weight as an adult)

• Lack of physical activity (To reduce your risk of breast cancer, the American Cancer Society recommends 45 to 60 minutes of intentional physical activity 5 or more days a week.)

Factors with uncertain, controversial, or unproven

• High-fat diets

• Antiperspirants (There is very little laboratory or population-based evidence to support this rumor.)

• Bras ( There is no good scientific or clinical basis for this claim. )

• Induced abortion

• Breast implants

• Chemicals in the environment

• Tobacco smoke

• Night work (for example, nurses on a night shift -- may have an increased risk of developing breast cancer.)

As i have already said Breast Cancer Risk Factors dose not mean that you will get Breast cancer.There is no need of panic after reading these Breast Cancer Risk hold high and there is no better healer than your self confidence,always feel you are healthy and move on.