Risk Factors

All women are at risk of getting breast cancer. While the greatest risk is to older women‚ women of all ages need to take steps to protect themselves. Anything that increases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a risk factor.

All women are at risk of getting breast cancer. While the greatest risk is to older women‚ women of all ages need to take steps to protect themselves. Anything that increases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a risk factor. Some of the risk factors can be avoided‚ but most cannot‚ like age‚ for example.

Those risk factors that can be avoided include use of alcohol and increased body weight in women after menopause. Alcohol is linked to increased risk of developing breast cancer. Compared with non-drinkers‚ women who consume one alcoholic drink a day have a very small increase in risk‚ and those who have 2 to 5 drinks daily have about 1.5 times the risk of women who drink no alcohol. While more research is needed‚ studies have suggested that regular aerobic exercise can decrease or lower your risk of getting breast cancer.

A common misconception is that African-American women have a lower incidence of breast cancer than white women. However‚ this is true only for African-American women over 40. Under 40‚ African- American women have a higher risk of breast cancer. Across all age groups‚ they have an increased mortality rate. The higher breast cancer mortality among African-American women is partially related to the fact that a larger percentage of their breast cancers are diagnosed at a later‚ less treatable stage. In addition‚ many African-American women feel they do not receive the same level of treatment as do white women.