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Sandy Lynam Clough

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Breast Cancer Risk Factors

While no one knows the exact causes of breast cancer, research has shown that women with certain risk factors are more likely than others to develop the disease.

RISK FACTORS

Risk factors for breast cancer include:

  • Age: Half of all women diagnosed are over age 65.
  • Weight: Being obese or overweight.
  • Diet & Lifestyle: Lack of physical activity, a diet high in saturated fat, and alcoholic intake of more than two drinks per day.
  • Menstrual & Reproductive History: Early menstruation or late menopause, having your first child at an older age or not having given birth, or taking birth control pills for more than ten years if you are under 35. 
  • Family & Personal History: A family history of breast cancer—particularly a mother, sister. or a personal history of breast cancer of benign (non-cancer) breast disease.
  • Medical & Other Factors: Dense breast tissue (often identified by a mammogram), past radiation therapy to the breast or chest area. A history of hormone treatments—such as estrogen and progesterone, or gene changes— including BRCA1, BRCA2, and others.

Material on this page courtesy of Tennessee Breast Center, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 by Arts Uniq®, Cookville, TN. Used with permission.

Copyright © 2009. National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc a non-profit organization with a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. All rights reserved.