Causes and Risk Factors of Breast cancer
The actual cause of breast cancer is not known.
Some of the risk factors, which cause breast cancer, may be:
- Age: Chances are high as the age increases.
- Females: Although breast cancer is rare in men, females are at a very increased risk.
- Family history: Chances are high if anybody in the family has suffered from breast cancer indicating genes are responsible. Mutations in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are known to cause breast cancer in females. Females who have family history of breast cancer have normal BRCA genes.
- Personal History: If women had breast cancer in one of the breast, there is a likelihood of getting affected to the other breast also. Chances of recurrences are high to the same part or to different parts of the body.1,2
- Hormonal therapy: Women who have undergone menopause and taken hormone therapy for more than 4 years with estrogen and progesterone have high chances.3
- Mensturation: Women with mensturation beginning before the age of 12 years and menopause occurring after the age of 55 years are at high-risk of getting affected with breast cancer.
- Having higher estrogen levels increases the risk.
- More fat in the body and consuming alcohol increases estrogen levels especially after menopause leading to an increased risk.
- Radiation therapy: Young women who have exposed their breasts to radiations due to some diseased condition like Hodgkin’s lymphoma are likely to develop breast cancer in the later ages.4
- Late child-bearing: Women bearing children after the age of 30 years and women who never bear children are at high-risk of being affected with breast cancer.
- Not breast-feeding: Women who never breast-feed their children are at high risk.
Next page: Diagnosis of breast cancer
Written by: Healthplus24 team
Date last updated: April 22, 2012