What Causes Risks For Breast Cancer?

No one knows what causes breast cancer in women and (less commonly) in men. A lot of research has been put in to this issue. Scientists have been able to identify a number of factors which leads to rise in the risk of a person contracting the disease. These factors include the following :

Age Factor: The risk of contracting breast cancer rises with age. About 80% of breast cancer is found to develop in women over 50 years of age. The cancer is uncommon in people below 35 years of age, except for people with a family history of the disease.

Previous Breast Cancer: If a woman has already experienced breast cancer, she will have an increased risk of contracting cancer in the other breast. This chance of developing new cancer increases by about 0.5% to 0.7% annually.

Family History of Breast Cancer: About a 15% of people affected by breast cancer have a family history of the disease. The risk increases if any immediate relative like mother, sister etc had suffered from breast cancer.

Genetic Mutations: One of the common causes of onset of breast cancer is hereditary causes. Genetic mutations or permanent alteration in genes increases risk of contracting cancer.

Hormones: Prolonged exposure to sex hormones especially estrogen increases risk of cancer. Therefore factors like early first menstrual period, late menopause, no pregnancies, late pregnancy, or use of birth control pills may increase risk of contracting breast cancer.

Benign Breast Disease: Ailments of the breast which are benign or non multiplicative may increase risk of breast cancer. These ailments include benign tumor of glandular tissue, abnormal increase in cell number, abnormal cellular structure.

Consumption of Alcohol: There is a direct relation between quantity of alcohol consumed and risk of contracting breast cancer. Consuming three or more drinks a day increases the estrogen levels in the body and thus increases risk of cancer.

Exposure to Radiation: People who have received radiation therapy at one point of time or the other are prone to increased risk of breast cancer.

Consumption of dietary fat: Fat cells increase the production of estrogen in the body. Therefore people consuming high quantities of fats have a high risk of contracting breast cancer.

Environmental pollutants such as pesticides made from organochlorides increases rick of breast cancer.

Cigarette smoking: Cigarette smoking increases chance of contracting many types of cancer. Smoking also makes some forms of treatments difficult or impossible.

Abortion/miscarriage history: People who have a history of spontaneous miscarriages or induced abortions have a high risk of breast cancer.