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7 Risk Factors for Breast Cancer
October 18, 2021
One in eight women is diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, which amounts to a diagnosis every 13 minutes.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and there is good news to share:
- Breast cancer’s mortality has been declining since 1998 due to early detection and improved treatments.
- Physically active women are 25 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than those who are not active.
- here are more than 3.9 million cancer survivors in the U.S. at this time.
Still, breast cancer remains the most common cancer for women in the U.S.
Here are the risk factors:
- Previous radiation to the chest wall.
- Never having children.
- Having your first live birth after age 30.
- Carrier of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation.
- Being over the age of 40.
- Low vitamin D levels.
- Having gynecologic cancer such as ovarian or endometrial.
Prevention is the best medicine. Unfortunately, the pandemic caused many women to cancel routine screening for breast cancer, something Dr. Diana James, a radiologist with the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute at Hartford Hospital, said can delay care. Early diagnosis and treatment are keys to surviving breast cancer.
All women over 40 should have regular mammograms to screen for cancerous lumps, she said.
“Typically, they tell you to start screening 10 years before the youngest diagnosed female relative, or, if you have a BRCA gene mutation, one of the genetic mutations common for breast cancer, you can start at age 25,” James said.
Dr. Sapna Khubchandani, a medical oncologist at the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute in Waterford, said once diagnosed the breast team works with patients and their families to determine the optimal course of care, which depends on the stage of the cancer and its biomarkers.
If surgery is warranted, options are partial removal of the breast, called a lumpectomy, or full removal as a mastectomy, according to Dr. Heather King, a breast surgeon at the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute at Hartford Hospital.
“There are several factors that determine the path – the size of your cancer and the size of your breast,” she said, adding that amazing technological advances in the past few decades make breast cancer surgery less invasive.
Such techniques include the Hidden Scar procedure, in which Dr. King said the surgeon hides the incision made to remove the cancer around the patient’s nipple where the dark tissue meets the lighter tissue, in the fold under the breast or in the axillary area.
“The scars are less noticeable in time,” she said.
Other treatments have also evolved, Khubchandani said.
“The two latest drug approvals that changed the landscape of treatment were immunotherapy in triple negative breast cancer and PARP (poly adenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase) inhibitors in patients who have inherited breast cancer,” she said.
An emerging area of concern is low vitamin D levels and its correlation with breast cancer – but it is also something that can be caught and corrected with medication.
“There is a very significant issue with low vitamin D levels in women,” said Dr. Anthy Demestihas, a breast cancer survivor and breast surgeon with the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, where she also serves as chair of surgery. “A lot of pediatricians are starting to replace vitamin D levels in young girls, thinking that this is potentially a risk factor for not just breast cancer, but other diseases as well. For women who live in Sunbelt areas, there is a lower rate of breast cancer.”
As for other common misconceptions, Dr. Demestihas said patients often ask if mammograms, antiperspirant and underwire bras cause breast cancer – her answer to all three is no.
For more information about mammograms and where to get them, click here.
Treatments have also evolved, Dr. Khubchandani said.
“The two latest drug approvals that changed the landscape of treatment were immunotherapy in triple negative breast cancer and PARP inhibitors in patients who have inherited breast cancer,” she said.
An emerging area of concern is low vitamin D levels and its correlation with breast cancer – but it is also something that can be caught and corrected with medication.
“There is a very significant issue with low vitamin D levels in women,” said breast surgeon said Dr. Anthy Demestihas, a breast cancer survivor and breast surgeon with the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, where she also serves as chair of surgery. “A lot of pediatricians are starting to replace vitamin D levels in young girls, thinking that this is potentially a risk factor for not just breast cancer, but other diseases as well. For women who live in Sunbelt areas, there is a lower rate of breast cancer.”
As for other common misconceptions, Dr. Demestihas said patients often ask if mammograms, antiperspirant and underwire bras cause breast cancer – her answer for all three is no.
For more information about mammograms and where to get them, click here.