The risk factors for breast cancers refer to those factors that increase the risks of the appearance of the condition. Nonetheless you shouldn’t think that in case you have one or more risk factors it is certain that you will actually get cancer.
On the other hand there are also some women who don’t have any obvious risk factors and they were still affected by the condition.
Gender as one of the factors of risk of breast cancer
Simply the fact that you are a woman is a risk factor for developing breast cancer. The reason for which women are more prone to having breast cancer is that they are exposed to the effects of progesterone and estrogen. Men could also have breast cancer, but this is 100 times less common than in case of women.
Aging
This is another one of the breast cancer risk factors because as you age, the chances of having breast cancer increase. About an eighth of the invasive breast cancers can be found in case of women younger than 45 years.
On the other hand two thirds of the invasive breast cancers have been found in case of women older than 55 years.
Family history
Having close relatives who have been affected by the condition is also one of the factors of risk of breast cancer. In case you have a first degree relative with breast cancer, your chances of having breast cancer as well get doubled.
The truth is that the exact risk is still not known, but it has been shown that women with a father or brother that has been affected by cancer also has higher chances of contracting it.
Nonetheless, when it comes to the risk factors for breast cancers we have to add that only about 15% of all women affected by breast cancer have relatives who also had the condition. According to this 85% of the women have no family history of this kind.
Personal medical history
In case a woman has breast cancer, this is also one of the breast cancer risk factors, because the chances of having cancerous cells in the other breast as well triple or quadruple.
The same thing is true for the other parts of the same breast too. This is a kind of cancer recurrence.
Ethnicity and race
These are also factors of risk of breast cancer, because it has been shown that Caucasian women are more likely to have breast cancer, but African-American women are more likely to die of it. Nonetheless, African-American women under the age of 45 are more likely to be affected by the condition. Hispanic, Asian and Native American women are less sensitive when it comes to risk factors for breast cancers.
Dense breast tissue
The density of the tissue could also represent one of the factors of risk of breast cancer. The denser the tissue is, the less fat and the more glandular tissue they have. This is why they have more breast cancer risk factors.
