It's hard to find a woman who doesn't worry that one day she will get breast cancer. Knowing more about risk factors can make it easier for a woman to understand her own risk — and find the screening and prevention strategies that are right for her.
Age and Breast Cancer Risk
Ethnicity and Breast Cancer Risk
Men and Breast Cancer Risk
Nearly 215,990 new cases of breast cancer will be discovered in the United States this year, according to American Cancer Society predictions, and more than 40,000 women will die of the disease. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women, and the second leading cause of female cancer-related deaths after lung cancer.
Age and Breast Cancer Risk
In the general population, a woman who lives to age 90 has about a 12 percent chance of developing breast cancer. If she has an abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, however, her risk can be as high as 60 to 87 percent.
| Age | Risk |
| 30 | 0.05% |
| 40 | 0.4% |
| 50 | 1.9% |
| 60 | 4.3% |
| 70 | 7.1% |
| 80 | 10% |
Ethnicity and Breast Cancer Risk
Men and Breast Cancer Risk
Men can also develop breast cancer, although it is much less common in men than women. Approximately 1 percent of all breast cancer occurs in men. With hereditary breast cancer, the risk for male breast cancer is estimated to be 6 to 8 percent.
When considering your personal risk for breast cancer, it is important to keep in mind that all of these statistics apply to general populations. There are a number of factors — including environmental and genetic — that determine each individual person's risk for breast cancer.
References:
1. Diez, O et al. (2000) "BRCA2 germ-line mutations in Spanish male breast cancer patients." Ann Oncol. Jan 11(1):81-4.
2. Csokay, B et al (1999) "High frequency of germ-line BRCA2 mutations among Hungarian male breast cancer patients without family history." Cancer Res Mar 1; 59(5):995-8
3. Prechtel, D et al. (1998) "Frequent loss of heterozygosity at chromosome 13q12-13 with BRCA2 markers in sporadic male breast cancer." Diagn Mol Pathol Feb; 7(1):57-62
4. Reis LAG, et al. (2000). "SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1973-1997." National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD
5. Bingham SA (1999). "High-meat diets and cancer risk." Proc Nutr Soc May; 58(2):243-8.
6. Zheng W. et al (1999). "N-acetyltransferase 1 genetic polymorphism, cigarette smoking, well-done meat intake, and breast cancer risk." Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev Mar; 8(3):233-9.
E. B. Claus, J. M. Schildkraut, W. D. Thompson and N. J. Risch. (1996). The genetic attributable risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Cancer 77(11):2318-24.
R. Breslow and L. Kessler. (1995). Stat bite: knowledge of breast cancer risk by age. J Natl Cancer Institute 87(1109).
J. D. Boice, Jr., E. B. Harvey, M. Blettner, M. Stovall and J. T. Flannery. (1992). Cancer in the contralateral breast after radiotherapy for breast cancer [see comments]. N Engl J Med 326(12):781-5.
S. Bhatia, L. L. Robison, O. Oberlin, M. Greenberg, G. Bunin, F. Fossati-Bellani and A. T. Meadows. (1996). Breast cancer and other second neoplasms after childhood Hodgkin's disease [see comments]. N Engl J Med 334(12):745-51.
S. L. Hancock, M. A. Tucker and R. T. Hoppe. (1993). Breast cancer after treatment of Hodgkin's disease. J Natl Cancer Inst 85(1):25-31.
R. Sankila, S. Garwicz, J. H. Olsen, H. Dollner, H. Hertz, A. Kreuger, F. Langmark, M. Lanning, T. Moller and H. Tulinius. (1996). Risk of subsequent malignant neoplasms among 1,641 Hodgkin's disease patients diagnosed in childhood and adolescence: a population-based cohort study in the five Nordic countries. Association of the Nordic Cancer Registries and the Nordic Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. J Clin Oncol 14(5):1442-6.
L. A. Brinton and C. Schairer. (1993). Estrogen replacement therapy and breast cancer risk. Epidemiol Rev 15(1):66-79.
C. Schairer, J. Lubin, R. Troisi, S. Sturgeon, L. Brinton and R. Hoover. (2000). Menopausal estrogen and estrogen-progestin replacement therapy and breast cancer risk [see comments]. JAMA 283(4):485-91.
R. K. Ross, A. Paganini-Hill, P. C. Wan and M. C. Pike. (2000). Effect of hormone replacement therapy on breast cancer risk: estrogen versus estrogen plus progestin. J Natl Cancer Inst 92(4):328-32.
(1997). Breast cancer and hormone replacement therapy: collaborative reanalysis of data from 51 epidemiological studies of 52,705 women with breast cancer and 108,411 women without breast cancer. Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer [see comments] [published erratum appears in Lancet 1997 Nov 15;350(9089):1484]. Lancet 350(9084):1047-59.
K. Kerlikowske, J. Barclay, D. Grady, E. A. Sickles and V. Ernster. (1997). Comparison of risk factors for ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 89(1):76-82.
B. MacMahon, P. Cole and J. Brown. (1973). Etiology of human breast cancer: a review. J Natl Cancer Inst 50(1):21-42.
D. Trichopoulos, B. MacMahon and P. Cole. (1972). Menopause and breast cancer risk. J Natl Cancer Inst 48(3):605-13.
L. A. Brinton, C. Schairer, R. N. Hoover and J. F. Fraumeni, Jr. (1988). Menstrual factors and risk of breast cancer. Cancer Invest 6(3):245-54.
J. L. Kelsey and M. D. Gammon. (1990). Epidemiology of breast cancer. Epidemiol Rev. 12(228-40.
F. De Waard, J. P. Cornelis, K. Aoki and M. Yoshida. (1977). Breast cancer incidence according to weight and height in two cities of the Netherlands and in Aichi prefecture, Japan. Cancer 40(3):1269-75.
M. P. Longnecker, P. A. Newcomb, R. Mittendorf, E. R. Greenberg, R. W. Clapp, G. F. Bogdan, J. Baron, B. MacMahon and W. C. Willett. (1995). Risk of breast cancer in relation to lifetime alcohol consumption. J Natl Cancer Inst 87(12):923-9.
G. A. Colditz. (1990). A prospective assessment of moderate alcohol intake and major chronic diseases. Ann Epidemiol 1(2):167-77.
L. Garfinkel, P. Boffetta and S. D. Stellman. (1988). Alcohol and breast cancer: a cohort study. Prev Med 17(6):686-93.
M. E. Reichman, J. T. Judd, C. Longcope, A. Schatzkin, B. A. Clevidence, P. P. Nair, W. S. Campbell and P. R. Taylor. (1993). Effects of alcohol consumption on plasma and urinary hormone concentrations in premenopausal women [see comments]. J Natl Cancer Inst 85(9):722-7.
C. L. Carter, D. K. Corle, M. S. Micozzi, A. Schatzkin and P. R. Taylor. (1988). A prospective study of the development of breast cancer in 16,692 women with benign breast disease. Am J Epidemiol 128(3):467-77.
W. D. Dupont, D. L. Page, F. F. Parl, C. L. Vnencak-Jones, W. D. Plummer, Jr., M. S. Rados and P. A. Schuyler. (1994). Long-term risk of breast cancer in women with fibroadenoma. N Engl J Med 331(1):10-5.
A. Schatzkin and M. P. Longnecker. (1994). Alcohol and breast cancer. Where are we now and where do we go from here? Cancer 74(3 Suppl):1101-10.
S. A. Smith-Warner, D. Spiegelman, S. S. Yaun, P. A. van den Brandt, A. R. Folsom, R. A. Goldbohm, S. Graham, L. Holmberg, G. R. Howe, J. R. Marshall, A. B. Miller, J. D. Potter, F. E. Speizer, W. C. Willett, A. Wolk and D. J. Hunter. (1998). Alcohol and breast cancer in women: a pooled analysis of cohort studies [see comments]. JAMA 279(7):535-40.
C. M. Friedenreich, I. Thune, L. A. Brinton and D. Albanes. (1998). Epidemiologic issues related to the association between physical activity and breast cancer. Cancer 83(3 Suppl):600-10.
M. P. Cleary and N. J. Maihle. (1997). The role of body mass index in the relative risk of developing premenopausal versus postmenopausal breast cancer. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 216(1):28-43.
B. Fisher, J. P. Constantino, D. L. WIckerham, C. K. Redmond, M. Kavannah and e. al. (1998). Tamoxifen for the prevention of breast cancer: report of the NAtional Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project P-1 Study. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 90(1371-1388.
S. R. Cummings, S. Eckert, K. A. Krueger, D. Grady, T. J. Powles, J. A. Cauley, L. Norton, T. Nickelsen, N. H. Bjarnason, M. Morrow, M. E. Lippman, D. Black, J. E. Glusman, A. Costa and V. C. Jordan. (1999). The effect of raloxifene on risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women: results from the MORE randomized trial. Multiple Outcomes of Raloxifene Evaluation [see comments] [published erratum appears in JAMA 1999 Dec 8;282(22):2124]. JAMA 281(23):2189-97.
L. C. Hartmann, D. J. Schaid, J. E. Woods, T. P. Crotty, J. L. Myers, P. G. Arnold, P. M. Petty, T. A. Sellers, J. L. Johnson, S. K. McDonnell, M. H. Frost and R. B. Jenkins. (1999). Efficacy of bilateral prophylactic mastectomy in women with a family history of breast cancer [see comments]. N Engl J Med 340(2):77-84.
D. Schrag, K. M. Kuntz, J. E. Garber and J. C. Weeks. (2000). Life expectancy gains from cancer prevention strategies for women with breast cancer and BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. JAMA 283(5):617-24.
