Lower Your Risk
Breast Cancer Prevention Strategies
Understand the risks associated with breast cancer and preventive measures you can take to lower those risks
Courtesy of Prevention.com
Among cancers that affect women, breast cancer has held the number one spot for many years. It's far ahead of lung cancer, which ranks number two. In 2007, the American Cancer Society estimates that breast cancer accounted for 26 percent of new cancer diagnoses among women, compared with 15 percent for lung cancer.
Specifically, the American Cancer Society estimates that in 2007, approximately 178,500 women learned that they have invasive breast cancers. This figure does not include noninvasive, or in situ, breast cancers, which occur at a much lower rate, with an estimated 20,000 cases in 2007
The good news in all of the statistics is that fewer women are dying from breast cancer. In fact, in 1987, breast cancer fell behind lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. Still, the number of deaths remains high, with the disease estimated to have claimed the lives of as many as 40,460 women in 2007.
One possible explanation for the declining number of breast cancer deaths is the increasing availability of mammography, coupled with the growing awareness among women of the need for periodic mammograms. Consequently, we're able to detect breast cancer at an earlier stage, when most forms of the disease are more curable. The rise in mammography screening also is a likely explanation for the surge in the number of breast cancer diagnoses in the 1980s, when the incidence rate jumped by 32 percent. However, of great concern is the recent decline in the numbers of women undergoing annual mammograms. A recent study reported a 4% decline in mammography screening rates.
Of course, improvements in treatment are another important factor in the gradually declining death rate. For example, the number of women who survive early, localized breast cancers for at least 5 years has increased from 27 percent in the 1940s to 97 percent today.
You probably are familiar with the statistic about the average woman's having a one-in-eight chance in her lifetime of developing breast cancer. While this number is disconcerting, what most women don't realize is that this statistic reflects cumulative risk over an entire lifetime--that is, from birth to age 85. Perhaps a more accurate way to assess risk is to compare the age-specific probabilities of developing breast cancer.
Age Specific Probabilities:
- • If your current age is 20, the probability of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years is 1 in 1,985, or .05%.
- • If your current age is 30, the probability of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years is 1 in 229, or .44%.
- • If your current age is 40, the probability of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years is 1 in 68, or 1.46%.
- • If your current age is 50, the probability of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years is 1 in 37, or 2.73%.
- • If your current age is 60, the probability of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years is 1 in 26, 3.82%.
- • If your current age is 70, the probability of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years is 1 in 24, 4.14%.
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