Breast cancer affects one in eight women during their lives. Breast cancer kills more women in the United States than any cancer except lung cancer. No one knows why some women get breast cancer, but there a number of risk factors. Risks that you cannot change include
• Age - the chance of getting breast cancer rises as a woman gets older
• Genes - there are two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, that greatly increase the risk. Women who have family members with breast or ovarian cancer may wish to be tested.
• Personal factors - beginning periods before age 12 or going through menopause after age 55
Other risks include being overweight, using hormone replacement therapy, taking birth control pills, drinking alcohol, not having children or having your first child after age 35 or having dense breasts.
In 2007, about 178,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in American women, and another 62,030 cases of localized breast cancer will be found. About 40,460 women are expected to die from the disease this year, second only to lung cancer. Breast cancer death rates are, however, declining. Rates continue to decline more than 2 percent annually since 2002.
The decline in overall reported breast cancer cases is believed to be related to the decreased use of hormone replacement therapy. Hormone Replacement Therapy is taken to decrease menopausal symptoms. The decline in cancer remained true, even after women who were not screened via mammography, were taken out of the equation.
The initial findings which related hormone replacement therapy to breast cancer were reported when the results of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) were released. The WHI was halted early after researchers found elevated health risks, including breast cancer, among women taking the combined formulation of estrogen plus progestin.
Still, much skepticism has remained, as the Wyeth company, in particular, muddied the water with variables that confounded the situation. However, the jury has now spoken. Jurors have awarded $99 million dollars in punitive damages to three Nevada women who claimed hormone replacement drugs caused their breast cancer. Hopefully, this will put the final death sentence on a dangerous drug for women who are still considering hormone replacement therapy.
Sources
NBC6 News: Jury Gives $99 Million Dollars Over Breast Cancer, October 16, 2007
http://www.nbc6.net/health/14354385/detail.html?rss=ami&psp=health
Berry, D. et al: Breast Cancer Trends: A Marriage Between Clinical Trial Evidence and Epidemiology, JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2007 99(15):1139-1141; doi:10.1093/jnci/djm080
http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/99/15/1139
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