Breast
cancer risk factors vary, experts say
By Andrea Sirhall
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
In celebration of October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, or Pink
October, the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) held a Breast Cancer Information
Forum Wednesday.
According to Heidi Burkey, a health educator with the Health Resource Center,
breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women and is the second deadliest.
Statistics estimate 211,240 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed, and
40,000 of those cases will prove fatal nationwide in 2005. California ranks first
in the nation for the number of breast cancer patients diagnosed each year; with
25,000 new cases expected this year.
Of those, 4,000 will die.
Burkey said there are many risk factors for breast cancer, including age, genetics,
having children or starting menopause late, using oral (hormonal) contraceptives
for 5-10 years or more, or drinking more than one alcoholic beverage per day.
Burkey said these risk factors seem to contribute to the fact that “breast
cancer statistically affects affluent white women more than other socioeconomic
and racial groups.”
She explained how women in this group typically wait longer to have children
or have no children at all, and as a result are also more likely to have taken
hormonal contraceptives for extended periods of time.
Also, she said, “Affluent white women typically have access to better health
care and are more likely to be diagnosed. It’s not necessarily that they
get breast cancer more often, it’s that they have better chances at having
their cases reported to the California Cancer Registry.” All cancer diagnoses
made in the state of California have to be registered with the CCR.
According to Dr. Stephanie Green, many forms of breast cancer are estrogen-receptive;
pregnancy lowers a woman’s estrogen levels until after the baby is born,
thus giving the body a break and lowering the woman’s risk for estrogen-receptive
breast cancers.
Similarly, hormonal contraceptives—the Pill, the Patch and the NuvaRing—release
estrogen into the body, thus raising the risk of breast cancer. At the same time
however, extended use of hormonal contraceptives lower a woman’s risk of
ovarian cancer.
As alternatives to hormonal contraceptives, Green recommends spermicides, condoms
and the diaphragm. The American Cancer Society recommends young women begin monthly
self breast examinations at the age of 20, but Green said, “Once you become
sexually active or start taking birth control—even if it’s to regulate
your period—definitely start checking [your breasts] regularly,” even
if a woman is under the age of 20.
Both Burkey and Green pointed out men are also at risk for breast cancer, although
it is rare. Genetics is the major risk factor for male breast cancer, which in
many cases proves to be more serious than breast cancer in women due to late
detection.
While monthly breast exams are not recommended for men, Burkey and Green emphasized
it is important for men to simply be aware of their bodies, and if they do happen
to feel a lump or see a visible change in their breast tissue, to get to a doctor
right away.
In addition, both recommended regular physicals, and said most cases of testicular
cancer are now being reported in young men of college age.
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