Avoiding risk factors and increasing protective factors may help prevent cancer.
Avoiding cancer risk factors such as smoking, being overweight, and lack of exercise may help prevent certain cancers. Increasing protective factors such as quitting smoking, eating a healthy diet, and exercising may also help prevent some cancers. Talk to your doctor or other health care professional about how you might lower your risk of cancer.
The following risk factors may increase the risk of breast cancer:
Estrogen (endogenous)
Endogenous estrogen is a hormone made by the body. It helps the body develop and maintain female sex characteristics. Being exposed to estrogen over a long time may increase the risk of breast cancer. Estrogen levels are highest during the years a woman ismenstruating. A woman's exposure to estrogen is increased in the following ways:
• Early menstruation: Beginning to have menstrual periods at age 11 or younger increases the number of years the breast tissue is exposed to estrogen.
• Late menopause: The more years a woman menstruates, the longer her breast tissue is exposed to estrogen.
• Late pregnancy or never being pregnant: Because estrogen levels are lower during pregnancy, breast tissue is exposed to more estrogen in women who become pregnant for the first time after age 35 or who never become pregnant.
Hormone replacement therapy/Hormone therapy
Hormones that are made outside the body, in a laboratory, are called exogenous hormones. Estrogen, progestin, or both may be given to replace the estrogen no longer produced by the ovaries in postmenopausal women or women who have had their ovaries removed. This is called hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or hormone therapy (HT) and may be given in one of the following ways:
• Combination HRT/HT is estrogen combined with progesterone or progestin. This type of HRT/HT increases the risk of developing breast cancer.
• Estrogen-only therapy may be given to women who have had a hysterectomy. It is not known if this type of HRT/HT increases the risk of breast cancer.
Exposure to Radiation
Radiation therapy to the chest for the treatment of cancers increases the risk of breast cancer, starting 10 years after treatment and lasting for a lifetime. The risk of developing breast cancer depends on the dose of radiation and the age at which it is given. The risk is highest if radiation treatment was used during puberty. For example, radiation therapy used to treat Hodgkin disease by age 16, especially radiation to the chest and neck, increases the risk of breast cancer.
Radiation therapy to treat cancer in one breast does not appear to increase the risk of developing cancer in the other breast.
For women who are at risk of breast cancer due to inherited changes in the BRC1 and BRCA2 genes, exposure to radiation, such as that from chest x-rays, may further increase the risk of breast cancer, especially in women who were x-rayed before 20 years of age.
Obesity
Obseity increases the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women who have not used hormone replacement therapy.
Alcohol
Drinking alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer. The level of risk rises as the amount of alcohol consumed rises.
Inherited Risk
Women who have inherited certain changes in the BRA1 and BRCA2 genes have a higher risk of breast cancer, and the breast cancer may develop at a younger age.
Avoiding cancer risk factors such as smoking, being overweight, and lack of exercise may help prevent certain cancers. Increasing protective factors such as quitting smoking, eating a healthy diet, and exercising may also help prevent some cancers. Talk to your doctor or other health care professional about how you might lower your risk of cancer.
The following risk factors may increase the risk of breast cancer:
Estrogen (endogenous)
Endogenous estrogen is a hormone made by the body. It helps the body develop and maintain female sex characteristics. Being exposed to estrogen over a long time may increase the risk of breast cancer. Estrogen levels are highest during the years a woman ismenstruating. A woman's exposure to estrogen is increased in the following ways:
• Early menstruation: Beginning to have menstrual periods at age 11 or younger increases the number of years the breast tissue is exposed to estrogen.
• Late menopause: The more years a woman menstruates, the longer her breast tissue is exposed to estrogen.
• Late pregnancy or never being pregnant: Because estrogen levels are lower during pregnancy, breast tissue is exposed to more estrogen in women who become pregnant for the first time after age 35 or who never become pregnant.
Hormone replacement therapy/Hormone therapy
Hormones that are made outside the body, in a laboratory, are called exogenous hormones. Estrogen, progestin, or both may be given to replace the estrogen no longer produced by the ovaries in postmenopausal women or women who have had their ovaries removed. This is called hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or hormone therapy (HT) and may be given in one of the following ways:
• Combination HRT/HT is estrogen combined with progesterone or progestin. This type of HRT/HT increases the risk of developing breast cancer.
• Estrogen-only therapy may be given to women who have had a hysterectomy. It is not known if this type of HRT/HT increases the risk of breast cancer.
Exposure to Radiation
Radiation therapy to the chest for the treatment of cancers increases the risk of breast cancer, starting 10 years after treatment and lasting for a lifetime. The risk of developing breast cancer depends on the dose of radiation and the age at which it is given. The risk is highest if radiation treatment was used during puberty. For example, radiation therapy used to treat Hodgkin disease by age 16, especially radiation to the chest and neck, increases the risk of breast cancer.
Radiation therapy to treat cancer in one breast does not appear to increase the risk of developing cancer in the other breast.
For women who are at risk of breast cancer due to inherited changes in the BRC1 and BRCA2 genes, exposure to radiation, such as that from chest x-rays, may further increase the risk of breast cancer, especially in women who were x-rayed before 20 years of age.
Obesity
Obseity increases the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women who have not used hormone replacement therapy.
Alcohol
Drinking alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer. The level of risk rises as the amount of alcohol consumed rises.
Inherited Risk
Women who have inherited certain changes in the BRA1 and BRCA2 genes have a higher risk of breast cancer, and the breast cancer may develop at a younger age.
No comments:
Post a Comment