Aging Increases Breast Cancer Risk

Weight, diet, exercise, alcohol consumption and smoking – are some of the lifestyle choices that can impact your risk for breast cancer. Unfortunately, the leading factor for developing breast cancer is something that you cannot change: getting older.

Studies have shown that overall cancer risk increases significantly after age 50, and half of all cancers occur at age 66 and above. According to the National Cancer Institute, one quarter of new cancer diagnoses are in people aged 65 to 74. The median age for a breast cancer diagnosis is 61 years.

“You can’t hold back the hands of time, but research has shown that managing chronic conditions and making lifestyle changes in middle age and beyond can modify cancer risk,” said Jeffery Falk, breast cancer surgeon with Ascension St. John Hospital.

It’s never too late to start making lifestyle choices that can improve your health and lower your risk for breast cancer. To reduce cancer risk, Dr. Falk offers the following recommendations:

1. Get moving. Women who are not physically active have a higher risk of getting breast cancer.

2. Maintain healthy weight during menopause. Being overweight or obese after menopause increases the risk of breast cancer. Having more fat tissue can increase your chance of getting breast cancer by raising estrogen levels.

3. Stop taking hormones. Some forms of hormone replacement therapy (those that include both estrogen and progesterone) taken during menopause can raise risk for breast cancer when taken for more than five years.

4. Limit alcohol intake. Studies show that a woman’s risk for breast cancer increases with the more alcohol she drinks.

5. Continue screening mammograms. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines recommend a mammogram every two years for women ages 50 to 75 with an average risk of developing breast cancer.

To learn about breast care at an Ascension hospital in Southeast Michigan, call 866-501-3627.