Breast Cancer - Risk and Awareness

Everyone has some risk of developing breast cancer, but there are many factors that can increase or decrease each individual person’s breast cancer risk. If you are uncertain about your own risk of breast cancer, it can help to learn about the known risk factors and steps you can take to lower your risk as much as possible. Or if you know you have a higher risk of breast cancer due to factors such as a strong family cancer history or an inherited genetic mutation, you can learn more about those risk factors and risk reduction treatments that may be available to you.

Breast cancer risk factors 

There are a variety of factors that affect your breast cancer risk. Some you can’t change, such as being a woman, growing older, and inheriting a gene mutation linked to breast cancer. But you can change other risk factors — such as being overweight, not exercising regularly, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, or eating unhealthy food — by making healthier lifestyle choices.

Family history and genetics 

You have a higher risk of developing breast cancer if you have close relatives who've been diagnosed with the disease, particularly first-degree relatives, such as your sisters, mother, or daughters. Your risk increases if you have multiple close relatives who have had breast cancer, and if a first-degree male relative (your brother or father) has been diagnosed with breast cancer. In some cases, a strong family history of breast cancer is linked to having an abnormal gene associated with a high risk of breast cancer, such as the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. Genetic testing can confirm if your family cancer history is linked to a genetic mutation linked to breast cancer. 

If you have a strong family history or an inherited genetic mutation that puts you at high risk for breast cancer, you and your doctor can discuss more frequent screening, or several options for reducing your risk, including: 

 prophylactic mastectomy 

 prophylactic ovary removal 

 hormonal therapy medicines 

Dense breasts 

If your doctor tells you that you have dense breasts, it means that you have more fibrous and glandular tissue and less fatty tissue than women who don't have dense breasts. Women with dense breasts may have a higher risk of breast cancer, and dense breasts make it more difficult for doctors to see breast cancers on mammograms.

Understanding breast cancer risk 

Everyone has some risk of developing breast cancer. An individual person’s breast cancer risk may be higher or lower, depending on specific risk factors. If you and your doctor have not discussed your personal risk of breast cancer, it’s a good idea to bring it up at your next appointment. In the meantime, you can learn more about how to understand breast cancer risk statistics and what they may mean for your individual risk.

Exercise, nutrition and maintaining a healthy weight 

Regular exercise is an important part of being as healthy as you can be. More and more research is showing that exercise and maintaining a healthy weight can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer.

Culled from Breastcancer.org.