Risks
Statistics show that around 126 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each day.
According the the Cancer Research UK, around 126 new cases of breast
cancer are diagnosed each day in the UK. Regardless of these numbers, your
individual risk may be higher or lower depending on many different factors, like
family history, reproductive history, lifestyle, environment and others.
Although many risk factors may increase your chance of developing breast cancer,
it is not yet known exactly how some of these risk factors cause cells to become
cancerous.
- Gender:Simply being a woman is the main risk for breast cancer. While men
also get the disease, it is about 100 times more common in women than in men.
- Age: The chance of getting breast cancer increases as a woman gets older.
About 2 out of 3 women with invasive breast cancer are age 55 or older when the
cancer is found.
- Genetic risk factors: About 5% to 10% of breast cancers are believed to be
linked to inherited mutations in certain genes. The most common gene mutations are
those of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Women with these mutations have up to an 80%
chance of getting breast cancer during their lifetimes. Other gene changes may also
raise breast cancer risk.
- Family history: Breast cancer risk is higher among women whose close blood
relatives have this disease. The relatives can be from either the mother's or father's
side of the family. Having a mother, sister or daughter with breast cancer about
doubles a woman's risk. (It's important to note that 70% to 80% of women who get
breast cancer do not have a family history with this disease.)
- Personal history of breast cancer: A woman with cancer in one breast has
a greater chance of getting a new cancer in the other breast or in another part
of the same breast. This is different from a return of the first cancer (which is
called recurrence).
- Race: White women are slightly more likely to get breast cancer than are
African-American women. But African-American women are more likely to die of this
cancer. At least part of the reason seems to be because African-American women have
faster growing tumours. Asian, Hispanic, and American Indian women have a lower
risk of getting breast cancer.
- Dense breast tissue: Dense breast tissue means there is more glandular tissue
and less fatty tissue. Women with denser breast tissue have a higher risk of breast
cancer. Dense breast tissue can also make it harder for doctors to spot problems
on mammograms.
- Menstrual periods: Women who began having periods before the age of 12 or
who went through menopause after the age of 55 have a slightly increased risk of
breast cancer. They have had more menstrual periods and as a result have been exposed
to more of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone.
- Earlier breast radiation: Women who have had radiation treatment to the chest
area (as treatment for another cancer) earlier in life have a greatly increased
risk of breast cancer.
- Treatment with DES: In the past, some pregnant women were given the drug
DES (diethylstilbestrol) because it was thought to lower their chances of miscarriage.
Recent studies have shown that these women and their daughters, who were exposed
to DES while in the womb, have a slightly increased risk of getting breast cancer.