Older women are at higher risk of getting breast cancer.
An American woman's chance of getting breast cancer increases with age, according to the National Cancer Institute. For women between the ages of 60 and 69, the chance is 3.65 percent, or one in 27, compared with one in 233, or 0.43 percent, for women age 30 to 39.
Statistics
The National Cancer Institute reports that as of May 2010, 12.7 percent of women born in the United States are likely to develop breast cancer in their lifetime. More than three-quarters of breast cancer cases occur in women over age 50, notes Imaginis.
Risk Factors
Factors that may increase a woman's likelihood of getting breast cancer later on in life include a history of benign breast disease (noncancerous tumors and cysts), having her first child late in life, not having any full-term pregnancies, inheriting the breast cancer gene, having an early onset of her menstrual period and late age at the time of menopause, explains the New York State Department of Health.
Additional Considerations
In addition, high doses of X-rays over the years may increase a woman's chance of getting breast cancer as may exposure to certain chemicals in the environment, taking birth-control pills, long-term use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that contains estrogen, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and consuming alcohol.
Ethnicity
African-American women are more likely to get breast cancer before age 45, whereas white women are more likely to become afflicted with the disease after age 45.
Mystery
Some women have no risk factors other than age and they still get breast cancer, which confounds the medical community. Only 5 to 10 percent of breast cancer cases are due to inherited genes, notes the California Breast Cancer Research Program.
Abortion
There is not an increased risk of getting breast cancer if you have had an induced abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. In other words, there is no association between breast cancer and abortion.
Implants
Breast implants do not cause breast cancer, according to Breastimplantinfo.org; however, implants do make it more difficult to screen for tumors because the implants can hide them. When a woman has had breast augmentation, it is likely that the implants will conceal breast tumors in half of these women who turn out to have breast cancer. Take this into consideration before you opt for breast augmentation.
Tags: breast cancer, breast cancer, getting breast, getting breast cancer, breast cancer, breast augmentation
