Breast Cancer Risk Factors

Posted: Oct. 1, 2004

Simply being a woman and getting older puts you at some risk for breast cancer.

Your risk for breast cancer continues to increase over your lifetime. Several known factors can further increase your risk for breast cancer. Most women who get breast cancer have no known risk factors such as a family history of the disease.

According to the National Cancer Institute:
One or more of the following conditions place a woman at higher than average risk for breast cancer:

• Personal history of a prior breast cancer
• Evidence of a specific genetic change that increases susceptibility to breast cancer (BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations)
• Mother, sister, daughter, or two or more close relatives, such as cousins, with a history of breast cancer (especially if diagnosed at a young age)
• A diagnosis of a breast condition (i.e., atypical hyperplasia) that may predispose a woman to breast cancer, or a history of two or more breast biopsies for benign breast disease

Additional factors can play a role in a woman's risk for breast cancer:

• Women age 45 or older who have at least 75% dense tissue on a mammogram are at some increased risk.
• A slight increase in risk for breast cancer is associated with having a first birth at age 30 or older.
• In addition, women who receive chest irradiation for conditions such as Hodgkin's disease at age 30 or younger, remain at higher risk for breast cancer throughout their lives.

Not having any of the above risk factors does NOT mean that you are "safe."
The majority of women who develop breast cancer do not have a family history of the disease, nor do they fall into any other special high-risk category.

Web sites with additional information:

Mayo Clinic’s Early-Stage Breast Cancer Health Decision Guide
at www.mayoclinic.com

American Cancer Society Web site details the three major components of breast cancer screening: breast self-exam, clinical exam and mammography. Visit www.cancer.org

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