pelf-ism is contagious

This post is published in conjunction with the Breast Cancer Awareness month. Please note that information presented in this article was extracted and adapted from various sources in the Internet, and that you are advised to consult your doctor for more information.

I have read in the internet that a risk factor is anything that affects your chance of getting a disease, such as cancer. As such, different cancers have different risk factors, e.g. exposing skin to strong sunlight is a risk factor for skin cancer and smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the lung, mouth, larynx (voice box), bladder, kidney, and several other organs.

But on the other hand, having a risk factor, or even several risk factors, does NOT mean that you will get the disease. In fact, most women who have one or more breast cancer risk factors never develop the disease, while many women with breast cancer have no apparent risk factors (other than being a woman and growing older).

Following are some risk factors that I have compiled:

Risk factors that you cannot change

1. Gender: Being a woman is the main risk factor for developing breast cancer.
2. Aging: Your risk of developing breast cancer increases as you get older. Breast cancer is extremely uncommon among women younger than 30 years. About 12.5% of invasive breast cancer diagnoses are among women younger than 45, while about 66% women with invasive breast cancer are age 55 or older when they are diagnosed.
3. Genetic/Hereditary: About 5% to 10% of breast cancer cases are thought to be hereditary, resulting directly from gene changes (called mutations) inherited from a parent.
4. Family history of breast cancer: Breast cancer risk is higher among women whose close blood relatives have this disease. Having one first-degree relative (mother, sister, or daughter) with breast cancer approximately doubles a woman’s risk. It’s also important to note that 70% to 80% of women who get breast cancer do not have a family history of this disease.
5. Personal history of breast cancer: A woman with cancer in one breast has a 3- to 4-fold increased risk of developing a new cancer in the other breast or in another part of the same breast. This is different from a recurrence (return) of the first cancer.
6. Race: White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than are African-American women. However, African-American women are more likely to die of this cancer.
7. Geographic location: The incidence of breast cancer is significantly lower in Japan, Thailand, Nigeria, and India compared to Denmark, New Zealand, U.K. and the United States. These differences in the incidence of breast cancer are most likely related to the difference in dietary habits, cultural differences, environmental factors and the average number of pregnancies.
8. Menstruation: Women who started menstruating before age 12 or who went through menopause after age 55 have a slightly higher risk of breast cancer. This may be related to a higher lifetime exposure to the hormones estrogen and progesterone.

Lifestyle-related factors and breast cancer risk

1. Not having children, or having them later in life: Women who have had no children or who had their first child after age 30 have a slightly higher breast cancer risk. Having multiple pregnancies and becoming pregnant at an early age reduces breast cancer risk.
2. Oral contraceptive use: Studies have suggested that women now using oral contraceptives have a slightly greater risk of breast cancer than women who have never used them, but this risk seems to decline once their use is stopped. Women who stopped using oral contraceptives more than 10 years ago do not appear to have any increased breast cancer risk.
3. Breast-feeding: Some studies suggest that breast-feeding may slightly lower breast cancer risk, especially if breast-feeding is continued for 1.5 to 2 years.
4. Alcohol consumption: Use of alcohol is clearly linked to an increased risk of developing breast cancer. The risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed. Women who have 2 to 5 drinks daily have about 1.5 times the risk of women who drink no alcohol.
5. Overweight/Obese: Being overweight or obese has been found to increase breast cancer risk, especially for women after menopause. Before menopause your ovaries produce most of your estrogen, and fat tissue produces a small amount of estrogen. After menopause, once the ovaries stop making estrogen, most of a woman’s estrogen comes from fat tissue. Having more fat tissue after menopause can increase your estrogen levels and thereby increase your likelihood of developing breast cancer.
6. Physical activity: Evidence is growing that physical activity in the form of exercise reduces breast cancer risk. The only question is how much exercise is needed. In one study from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) as little as 1.25 to 2.5 hours per week of brisk walking reduced a woman’s risk by 18%. Walking 10 hours a week reduced the risk a little more.

More on the Breast Cancer Awareness series:

• Breast cancer?! What?!
• Breast cancer-related statistics
• Breast cancer: Examine yourself
• Risk factors for breast cancer
• Breast cancer symptoms
• Breast cancer treatments
• Breast cancer news

Learn more about risk factors and breast cancer symptoms with medical websites that are a vast resource of valuable information. But if you are showing symptoms or have several breast cancer risk factors, you should speak with your doctor immediately.