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Breast Cancer

Risk Factors

Risk factors you can control
  • Weight: Being overweight is associated with increased risk of breast cancer, especially for women after menopause.
  • Diet: Suspected risk factor for many types of cancer, including breast cancer. A low-fat diet which includes lots of fruits and vegetables is generally recommended.
  • Exercise: Evidence is growing that exercise can reduce breast cancer risk.
  • Alcohol: Studies have shown that breast cancer risk increases with the amount of alcohol a woman drinks.
  • Smoking: Associated with a small increase in breast cancer risk.
  • Exposure to estrogen: Exposure to estrogen over long periods of time, without any breaks, can increase the risk of breast cancer.

Risk factors you can’t control
  • Being a woman: Although men can get breast cancer, women’s breast cells are constantly changing which puts them at greater risk.
  • Age: The risk increases with age.
  • Family history of breast cancer.
  • Personal history of breast cancer.
  • Race: White women are at a slightly higher risk than African American, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American women.
  • Radiation therapy to the chest: Having radiation therapy to the chest area as treatment for another cancer significantly increases breast cancer risk.
  • Exposure to estrogen: Exposure to estrogen over long periods of time, without any breaks, can increase the risk of breast cancer.
  • Pregnancy and breastfeeding: Pregnancy and breastfeeding reduce the overall number of menstrual cycles in a woman’s lifetime, and this appears to reduce future breast cancer risk.

Warning signs
  • Change in shape or size of existing lumps
  • New lump development
  • Swelling or altered shape or contour of the breasts
  • Change in skin color or texture
  • Dimpling, pulling, crusting, rash, or discharge from the nipple

For more details on The Breast Center at University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center or for help obtaining a physician referral, please call 440-285-7757.