Pregnancy and Breast Cancer Risk

QUESTION: Is it better to have kids than to not have kids in order to reduce your risk of getting breast cancer? Why?

ANSWER: There are a number of risk factors for breast cancer. Never having a full-term pregnancy or having your first full-term pregnancy after age 30 are both risk factors—but not major risks. If you only have one of these risks, then your overall risk of breast cancer is only minimally elevated above an average woman without that risk factor. For women with or without a breast cancer gene abnormality (BRCA1 or BRCA2, genes also associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer), your risk of ovarian cancer is reduced by each full-term pregnancy. Getting pregnant just to reduce your risk would be ill advised. As you know, there are so many other critical factors that go into the decision whether and when to have children. Having said that, if you are ready to have kids and you're wondering if you should take the plunge sooner than later, then the possibility of reducing your breast cancer risk could be a consideration. For women with a breast cancer gene abnormality who are planning prophylactic ovary removal after child-bearing, they might choose to have children sooner than later for this reason as well.

—Marisa Weiss, M.D.