Chapter 6 Breast Cancer Whos At Risk: Cancer

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Chapter 6: Breast cancer - Who's at risk

When asked about their greatest health fear, many women immediately think of breast cancer. Not only is this disease the most common type of cancer in women (affecting about 182,000 women annually and accounting for approximately one in three new cancer cases in women), but it is also one of the most devastating emotionally.

On the other hand, the fear of developing breast cancer often outweighs the actual risk. In part, this is because the risk of breast cancer most often cited - one woman in eight - is a lifetime risk of breast cancer, and applies to women who have reached age 80 or older. Your actual risk of developing the disease is much lower when you are younger, as shown in "Breast Cancer Risk by Age."

There is other good news as well. Although the annual number of new cases of breast cancer remained steady throughout the 1990s, the survival rates for women who are diagnosed are improving. This is largely because of better treatments and earlier diagnosis. Even so, breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death among women. And no woman wants to develop this disease. So how do you reduce your risk? The first step is in better understanding the disease itself.

Last updated:	May 01, 2008