Am I in the risk group?
Remember that neither your young age nor a lack of family history of cancer guarantees that you are healthy. Research shows that 8 out of 9 women diagnosed with breast cancer did not have any relatives who were suffering from the disease. It is vital to be able to detect changes at an early stage and thus increase one’s chance of receiving less invasive treatment and making a full recovery.
Simply relax and examine your breasts according to your doctor’s recommendations. Self-examine them each month at home to increase the likelihood of detecting potential changes at an early stage.
If you are in a group with increased risk of breast cancer
What does it mean if I am in a high or a very high risk group for breast cancer?
If you have a confirmed BRCA1/2 mutation, regardless of family history of cancer or at least 3 first or second degree relatives with breast cancer, then your risk of getting cancer is more than tenfold that of the population at large.
If you do not have a confirmed BRCA1/2 mutation, but you have 2 first or second degree relatives who have been diagnosed with stage I or stage II breast cancer under the age of 50, or stage III at any age, then your risk of having breast cancer is 4 to 10 times higher than the average risk in the entire population.
BRCA1 mutation carriers have a 50%–80% risk of getting breast cancer and around a 40% risk of getting ovarian cancer.
If you are in a population risk group for developing breast cancer
What does it mean if you are in the population breast cancer risk group?
Your risk of getting breast cancer is comparable with the risk of the entire population of women in your country, excluding women with a high or very high risk of having breast cancer. Breast cancer is the leading health problem in women, accounting for 25% of all cancer cases. In 2012, 1,671,000 new cases of breast cancer were reported.
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