Breast Health

Determining risk for breast cancer

Who Is at Higher Than Average Risk for Breast Cancer?
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

• 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 that may predispose a woman to breast cancer (i.e., atypical hyperplasia), or a history of two or more breast biopsies for benign breast disease.

• also playing a role in a heightened risk for breast cancer is breast density. Women ages 45 or older who have at least 75 percent dense tissue on a mammogram are at elevated risk. And a slight increase in the risk of 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. These women require meticulous surveillance for breast cancer.

These factors that increase cancer risk--risk factors--do not by themselves cause cancer. Having one or more does not mean that you are certain or even likely to develop breast cancer. Even among women with no other risk factors except a strong family history--for example, both a mother and a sister or two sisters with early onset breast cancer--three-fourths will not develop the disease.

Clearly, there is much yet to be learned about what causes breast cancer.

~ On the other hand, not having any of the known risk factors does not mean that you are "safe." Most women who develop breast cancer do not have a strong family history of breast cancer or fall into any special higher risk category. ~

Source: The National Cancer Institute (NCI)

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