How to Assess Risk Factors for Breast Cancer

Most women have at least one risk factor for breast cancer. Even if you have several risks factors, it does not mean you will get the disease. There is nothing you can do about some risks factors, such as age or race. Some factors are linked to personal behaviors and still others are linked to the environment. Read on to learn how to assess risk factors for breast cancer.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Lifestyle Risk Factors

1. Understand the impact of the use of oral contraceptives. Studies suggest that women presently using oral contraceptives have a slightly higher risk than women who don't use them. The risk appears to decline once the oral contraceptives are stopped.

2. Consider the effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Studies, including the Women's Health Initiative, have found there is an increased risk of breast cancer related to the use of combined HRT.

3. Watch your alcohol intake. Use of alcohol is linked to an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Women who have two to five drinks daily have about one-and-a-half times the risk of women who don't drink.

4. Understand the risks of being overweight or obese. The relationship between weight and breast cancer risk is complex. The American Cancer Society recommends avoiding excessive weight gain, and balancing food intake with physical exercise.

Risk Factors That Can't be Changed

5. Know that gender can play a role. While men can develop breast cancer, it is about 100 times more common in women.

6. Understand how age is related to breast cancer. Your risk of developing breast cancer increases the older you are.

7. Keep in mind genetic risk factors. Women who inherit the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, from either parent, are at increased risk for breast cancer.

8. Research your family history of breast cancer. The risk of breast cancer is higher if you have a close family relative (mother, sister or daughter) who has had the disease.

9. Understand the risks of breast changes. Women who have atypical hyperplasia, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), or lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) or who have had two or more breast biopsies for other non-cancerous conditions are more likely to develop breast cancer.

10. Know that race can sometimes play a role. White women are at a slightly higher risk for breast cancer than African-American women yet African-American women are more likely to die from the disease. Asian, Hispanic, and Native-American women have a lower risk both of developing and dying from breast cancer.

11. Other risk factors include abnormal breast biopsy results, early start of menstruation (before age 12) or late menopause (after age 55), women who have had previous radiation to the chest area, and women exposed to DES.

Tips & Warnings

• Get a regular mammogram.
• See your doctor if you discover a lump or any of the other warning signs of breast cancer.