Health Issue: Breast Cancer

Over the course of a lifetime, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Risk factors you cannot change include:

• Age and gender — Your risk of developing breast cancer increases as you get older. The majority of advanced breast cancer cases are found in women over age 50. Women are 100 times more likely to get breast cancer than men.
• Family history of breast cancer — You may also have a higher risk for breast cancer if you have a close relative has had breast, uterine, ovarian, or colon cancer. About 20 – 30% of women with breast cancer have a family history of the disease.
• Genes — Some people have genes that make them more prone to developing breast cancer.

Menstrual cycle — Women who get their periods early (before age 12) or went through menopause late (after age 55) have an increased risk for breast cancer.

Other risk factors include:

Alcohol use — Drinking more than 1 – 2 glasses of alcohol a day may increase your risk for breast cancer.

• Childbirth — Women who have never had children or who had them only after age 30 have an increased risk for breast cancer. Being pregnant more than once or becoming pregnant at an early age reduces your risk of breast cancer.
• DES — Women who took diethylstilbestrol (DES) to prevent miscarriage may have an increased risk of breast cancer after age 40. This drug was given to the women in the 1940s – 1960s.
• Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) — You have a higher risk for breast cancer if you have received hormone replacement therapy for several years or more. Many women take HRT to reduce the symptoms of menopause.
• Obesity — Obesity has been linked to breast cancer, although this link is controversial. The theory is that obese women produce more estrogen, which can fuel the development of breast cancer.
• Radiation — If you received radiation therapy as a child or young adult to treat cancer of the chest area, you have a significantly higher risk for developing breast cancer. The younger you started such radiation, the higher your risk — especially if the radiation was given when a female was developing breasts.