Breast Cancer Will Likely Touch You Or Someone You Know

Being a woman is the biggest risk factor for developing breast cancer. Breast cancer in the United States is the most common cancer in women, no matter the race or ethnicity. Most women who get breast cancer have no family history of the disease or other known risk factors. Breast cancer can occur at any age, but it becomes more frequent as a woman gets older. A woman’s risk for breast cancer is higher if she has a mother, sister, or daughter (first-degree relative) or multiple family members on either her mother’s or father’s side of the family who have had breast cancer. Having a first-degree male relative with breast cancer also raises a woman’s risk. Currently, the average risk of a woman in the United States developing breast cancer sometime in her life is about 12%.