Does growing older means higher risk of getting breast cancer?

No one knows the exact causes of breast cancer. Doctors can seldom explain why one woman gets breast cancer and another does not.

However, research has shown that women with certain risk factors are more likely than others to develop breast cancer.

One of the risk factor is age.

The chance of getting breast cancer goes up as a woman gets older. A woman over age 60 is at greatest risk. This disease is very uncommon before menopause.

Besides age, a woman who has had breast cancer in one breast has an increased risk of getting this disease in her other breast.

Another risk factor of breast cancer is family history. A woman's risk of breast cancer is higher if her mother, sister, or daughter had breast cancer, especially at a young age (before age 40). Having other relatives with breast cancer on either her mother's or her father's side of the family may also increase a woman's risk.

Reproductive and menstrual history also affects the probablility of a women contracting breast cancer. The older a woman is when she has her first child, the greater her chance of breast cancer. Women who began menstruation (had their first menstrual period) at an early age (before age 12), went through menopause late (after age 55), or never had children also are at an increased risk.

Women who take menopausal hormone therapy (either estrogen alone or estrogen plus progestin) for 5 or more years after menopause also appear to have an increased chance of developing breast cancer.

Much research has been done to learn whether having an abortion or a miscarriage affects a woman's chance of developing breast cancer later on. Large, well-designed studies have consistently shown no link between abortion or miscarriage and the development of breast cancer.

It is helpful to be aware of risk factors. It's important to keep in mind that most of the women who have these risk factors do not get breast cancer. And most women who develop breast cancer have no history of the disease in their family. In fact, except for growing older, most women with breast cancer have no strong risk factors.

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