Who gets breast cancer?
Breast Cancer is primarily a female disease, but approximately 1% of all cases of breast cancer occur in men. Excellent Overall! Breast cancer does not discriminate by race or age, however incidences do increase with age. Any woman is at risk. While the risk increases with age, any one can get breast cancer at any age.
There are no rules about who gets this disease. The two most significant risk factors are being a woman, and increasing age. However, there are some things that may increase your risk, and some that may lower it. The development of breast cancer may be influenced by factors that affect the levels of female hormones that circulate in your body throughout life. These factors include the age when you began your menstrual period, the number of times you have been pregnant, your age at first pregnancy, whether you have breast-fed your children, and your level of physical activity. Understanding Risk Explaining the concept of cancer risk is one of the ongoing challenges of public health education. Medical research has defined risk factors for developing breast and ovarian cancer by studying large populations of women. It is important to remember that most risk factors increase the chance of getting cancer by only a small amount above the general or “baseline” risk. For example, if something
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women other than skin cancer. Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in women after lung cancer — and is the leading cause of cancer death among women ages 35 to 54. In 2001, 192,200 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and approximately 40,600 will die. Although these numbers may sound frightening, research reveals that the mortality rate could decrease by 30% if all women age 50 and older who need a mammogram had one. Only 5-10% of breast cancers occur in women with a clearly defined genetic predisposition for the disease. The majority of breast cancer cases are “sporadic,” meaning there is no direct family history of the disease. The risk for developing breast cancer increases as a woman ages.
Breast Cancer is primarily a female disease, but approximately 1% of all cases of breast cancer occur in men. Breast cancer does not discriminate by race or age, however incidences do increase with age. Any woman is at risk. While the risk increases with age, any one can get breast cancer at any age.
