The following is a list of factors which may affect your risk of breast cancer.
Factor |
Relative Risk[1] |
| Age | 10 |
| Where you live | 5 |
| Age at first period | 3 |
| Age at menopause | 2 |
| Age at first full pregnancy | 3 |
| Family History | 2 |
| Socio-economic group | 2 |
| Diet | 1.5 |
| Body weight pre-menopause | 0.7 |
| Body weight post-menopause | 2 |
| Alcohol consumption | 1.3 |
| Exposure to ionizing | 3 |
| Taking oral contraceptives | 2 |
| Taking HRT | 1.5 |
These statistics have been taken from McPherson Steel and Dixon ‘Breast Cancer – Epidemiology, risk factors and Genetics’ pp1003-1006 British Medical Journal (BMJ) 309 1994.
An important point to remember when looking at risk factors is that, with the exception of ionising radiation and the inherited breast cancer genes, none of the other risk factors directly cause breast cancer. Moreover, many of the risk factors associated with breast cannot be avoided e.g. when you start and finish your periods. And some are out with some women’s control e.g. where you live, when you have your first baby, your socio-economic group.
There is, and has been for a considerable number of years, a growing body of evidence linking breast cancer with environmental pollution. Starting with Rachael Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ in the 1960’s through to Dr Sandra Steingraber’s ‘Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment’, published in 1998, the evidence continues to grow. In 2006 in the USA, the Breast Cancer Fund and Breast Cancer Action published ‘State of the Evidence’ collating years of research into a comprehensive report. Copies of this can be downloaded from the Breast Cancer Fund website. In the UK, SBCC helped to fund the publication of ‘Breast Cancer: an environmental disease. The case for prevention’ which is another important compilation of environmental research. Copies of this can be downloaded from www.nomorebreastcancer.org or can be sent to you on request from SBCC.