Risk Factors
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As with any disease, there are a number of risk factors—such as age and gender—that you simply cannot control. However, you can control the nutrition you put into your body and the amount of exercise you enjoy each day.
Learn about the most common risk factors associated with breast cancer and what you can do to help reduce your risk for developing this disease.
- Gender. Being a woman is the main risk for breast cancer. Breast cancer is about 100 times more common in women than in men.
- Age. A woman’s risk of breast cancer increases with age. About two out of three women with invasive breast cancer are diagnosed at age 55 or older.
- Race. Caucasian women are more likely to get breast cancer than African American women. Asian, Hispanic and American Indian women have the lowest risk of developing the disease.
- Menstrual periods. Women who began their menstrual periods before age 12 or who entered menopause after age 55 have a slightly increased risk of breast cancer.
- Family history. According to the American Cancer Society, having a mother, sister or daughter with breast cancer nearly doubles a woman’s risk. However, 70 to 80 percent of women who develop breast cancer do not have a family history of the disease.
- Not having children or having them later in life. Women who have no children or who waited until after age 30 to have children have a slightly higher risk of breast cancer. Being pregnant more than once at an earlier age reduces breast cancer risk.
- Postmenopausal hormone therapy (PHT). Long-term use of PHT to help relieve symptoms of menopause and to prevent osteoporosis increases the risk of breast cancer.
- Alcohol use. According to the American Cancer Society, women who have two to five daily alcoholic drinks have a 1.5 times greater risk than women who drink no alcohol.
- Being overweight or obese. Women who are overweight or obese are at greater risk of breast cancer, especially if the weight gain took place during adulthood. The risk is higher if the extra weight is in the waist area.
- Lack of exercise. Women who get little or no exercise are at higher risk for breast cancer. One study found that 2.5 hours of brisk walking per week can reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer by 18 percent.
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