Breast cancer causes are not fully understood, it is difficult to determine why some women develop the disease while others do not. However, there are known risk factors that affect the chance of getting breast cancer. Some of these are further than your control, while others are changeable.
What are Breast Cancer Causes?
Breast Cancer Causes are many different types Following are common breast cancer causes:
- Getting older
- Genetic mutations
- Reproductive history
- Having dense breasts
- Personal history of breast cancer or certain non-cancerous breast diseases
- Family history of breast or ovarian cancer
- Previous treatment using radiation therapy
- Exposure to the drug
Age
Age increases the risk of getting breast cancer. The condition is most prevalent in women over 50 who have experienced menopause. About eight out of ten cases of breast cancer occur in women over the age of 50.
As part of the NHS Breast Screening Programme, all women seen between the ages of 50 and 70 must be screened for breast cancer every three years. Women over the age of 70 can still be screened by attempting to contact their primary care physician or local screening unit.
Breast Cancer Screening
Family History
If you have close relatives who have had breast or ovarian cancer, your chances of developing breast cancer may be increased. However, since breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, it is possible for it to randomly affect multiple family members. However, genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2 can increase the risk of having both breast and ovarian cancer. These genes are able of being transferred from parent to child.
Additionally, the genes TP53 and CHEK2 are linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. If breast or ovarian cancer runs in your family and you are worried that you may develop the disease, consult a physician. They may recommend you to the NHS for genetic testing to measure if you have inherited a cancer-risk gene.
Cancer-Risk Gene Predictive Genetic Tests.
1. Previous breast cancer or lump
If you have previous breast cancer or early non-invasive cancer cell changes in breast ducts, high Chance of developing it again, either in your other breast or in the same breast. Certain types of benign breast lumps may significantly increase the risk of getting cancer. However, a benign breast lump does not signal breast cancer.
Certain benign breast tissue changes, such as cells growing abnormally in ducts (atypical ductal hyperplasia) or abnormal cells within your breast lobes (lobular carcinoma in situ), can increase your risk of developing breast cancer.
2. Dense Breast Tissue
Your breasts are made up of thousands of milk-producing glands (lobules). This glandular tissue is larger than other breast tissue because it includes a larger concentration of breast cells. As there are more cells that might turn malignant, women with dense breast tissue have a higher risk of developing breast cancer.
Dense breast tissue can also make it difficult to understand a breast scan (mammogram), as any lumps or areas of abnormal tissue are difficult to detect. Younger women have denser breasts on average. As you age, the amount of glandular tissue in your breasts decreases and is replaced by fat, resulting in less dense breasts.
Hormones and Hormone Medicine
Exposure to Oestrogen
- Oestrogen can sometimes increase the growth of breast cancer cells by stimulating them.
- The ovaries, where eggs are kept, begin producing oestrogen during the onset of puberty in controlling menstruation.
- The amount of oestrogen your body is exposed to may increase your risk of developing breast cancer significantly.
- If you start experiencing periods at a young age and experience menopause later than average, for instance, you will have been treated to oestrogen for a longer period of time.
- Similarly, not having children or having them later in life may increase your risk of developing breast cancer since your exposure to oestrogen is not interrupted while pregnancy.
Replacement Hormone Therapy (HRT)
- The use of hormone replacement treatment (HRT) increases the risk of getting breast cancer.
- Apart from vaginal oestrogen, each type of HRT can raise the risk of breast cancer.
- If you take HRT for less than a year, there is no higher risk of breast cancer.
- However, if you use HRT for more than one year, you have a bigger chance of developing breast cancer compared to women who have never used HRT.
- After stopping HRT, the increased risk of breast cancer decreases but stays high for more than 10 years compared to women who have never taken HRT.
Risks of HRT
Contraceptive pill
According to research, contraceptive pill users have a slightly increased chance of getting breast cancer. However, the risk began to decrease if you stop taking the pill, and your breast cancer risk returns to normal after 10 years.
Lifestyle factors
- Being overweight or obese
- If you have gone experience menopause and are overweight or obese, your risk of developing breast cancer may be increased.
- This is believed to be related to the amount of oestrogen in the body, as being overweight or obese after menopause leads to an increase in oestrogen release.
Alcohol
Alcohol consumption increases the risk of developing breast cancer. People who regularly drink even little amounts of alcohol have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than those who never consume alcohol. Drinking more alcohol enhances your risk of developing breast cancer.
Certain radiation-based medical procedures, such as X-rays and CT scans, may raise the chance of getting breast cancer.
If you got chest radiotherapy for Hodgkin lymphoma, the Department of Health and Social Care should have immediately referred you to a session with a specialist to discuss your increased risk of getting breast cancer. Consult your primary care physician if you were not contacted or did not attend a consultation. Generally, you have the right to have an MRI of your breast made.
Before starting radiotherapy for Hodgkin lymphoma, your doctor should consider the possibility of developing breast cancer.
