How to understand causes of breast cancer

Breast cancer is defined by cancer that affects any portion of the breast tissue including the entire breasts, the lobules, the ducts, and the tissue in between the breasts. There are different types of breast cancer, which include noninvasive, invasive, metastatic, and recurrent. A common misconception is that only women can develop breast cancer, men can also develop breast cancer.

The types of breast cancer include Ductal Carcinoma in Situ, Lobular Carcinoma in Situ, Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, Invasive Lobular Carcinoma, Inflammatory breast cancer, male breast cancer, recurrent breast cancer, and metastatic breast cancer.

Causes of breast cancer are not actually known, however, there are risk factors that have been proven to raise a person’s chances of developing breast cancer. The risk factors are explained below.

Sex

Women do develop breast cancer more often than men; however, the reason is due the exposure to growth promoting effects of the female hormones progesterone and estrogen. Around 100 times more women develop breast cancer than men.

Age

Age is a risk factor with only one out of eight women under the age of 45 develops invasive breast cancer whereas two out of three women over the age of 55 develop the same type of breast cancer.

Hereditary

In 5 percent to 10 percent of individuals that develop breast cancer have inherited the gene from a parent.

Family History

Individuals with close relatives that have developed breast cancer have a higher risk.

Medical History

An individual that has had breast cancer in one breast has more of a chance of developing breast cancer in the other breast.

Race

Caucasian women have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than African American’s. On the other hand, African American women that develop breast cancer have tumors that are more aggressive and often die of the cancer more often than Caucasians. Asian, Native American, and Hispanics have a much lower risk of developing breast cancer.

Other conditions

Other conditions have been linked to breast cancer. These include fibrocystic disease, mild hyperplasia, adenosis, simple fibroadenoma, phyllodes tumor, single papilloma, fat necrosis, mastitis, and duct ectasia.

Menstrual Cycles

Women that started having cycles before the age of 12 or women that went into menopause after the age of 55 both have a higher risk of developing breast cancer.

Radiation therapy to the chest

Women or men that have had radiation therapy to the chest area are at a higher risk of developing breast cancer.

Other factors also have shown the chances of developing breast cancer. These are unlike the ones above due to the ability to change the lifestyle.

Women that do not have children at all or do not have their first child until after age 30 have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. Using oral contraceptives raises the risk of breast cancer. However, if you have not used oral contraceptives for over 10 years your risks are lowered than someone that is still using this method. Post-menopausal hormone therapy has also been linked to breast cancer.