BURNING BRAS and dumping deodorant may be dramatic moves, but available evidence says that those moves would have no impact on one's breast cancer risk. Dr. Clive Thomas, consultant general surgeon, instead points to some well-researched risk factors such as age, severe obesity, benign breast disease, genetics, early menarche and having no children.
AGE
He said that once a woman gets older, she has an increased risk for breast cancer. The risk increases fairly rapidly after age 50 although, doctors do see breast cancer in a small number of young women in their 20s and 30s.
"We don't know exactly (why young women develop breast cancer). One reason is the genetic predisposition....and when it occurs at that age, it is usually quite aggressive," Dr. Thomas said.
SEVERE OBESITY
Women who are severly obese, that is, above 40 per cent of their recommended body weight or more, are also at an increased risk to develop breast cancer.
BENIGN BREAST DISEASE
There tends to be an increased incidence, although not significant, among women who have had previous benign breast disease, Dr. Thomas said. He also said that a previous mastectomy presents a six-fold risk increase of cancer recurring in the other breast.
GENES
The genetic factor, Dr. Thomas indicated, is not only linked to a woman's mother or grandmother but also to her aunts and sisters.
"I have seen a case where the patient's grandmother had breast cancer, the daughter of the mother had breast cancer and then later on in life the mother developed the breast cancer. So, it appeared to have skipped the mother's generation and affected the granddaughter but it came back for the mother. So, in those cases, about 10 per cent of patients have a positive family history of breast cancer," he said.
EARLY MENARCHE
Women with early menarche, meaning they see their periods as early as age 12 and who continue to menstruate until 55 years and over, are at an increased risk for breast cancer, Dr. Thomas said, because of the hormonal stimulation for all those years.
NO CHILDREN
Women who have not had children or who have their children late in life, are also at an increased risk. Dr. Thomas said that, if a woman has children after age 30, it does not offer any protection against breast cancer but, if she has children before age 30, it offers some protection. He points out however, that he has seen cases of breast cancer in patients who have had many children and who started having children at an early age.
The underlying link between having children and breast cancer is that pregnancy interrupts the normal menstrual cycle, affecting ovarian activity and lessening the exposure to high levels of oestrogen.
