Risk Factors

A new study shows that women who smoked and got radiation therapy to treat breast cancer had a much higher risk of lung cancer later on compared to women who got radiation and didn't smoke.

Research shows that women with an abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene who've been diagnosed with breast cancer have a higher risk of being diagnosed with a new, different cancer in the opposite breast compared to women without an abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.

Research suggests that women with an abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene who are first diagnosed younger than age 41 have nearly double the contralateral breast cancer risk of similar women diagnosed when they're age 41 to 49.

Women who did 5 hours of moderate exercise per week before being diagnosed with breast cancer were much less likely to have heart problems after treatment compared to women who exercised for less time.

A study suggests that a woman's risk of breast and ovarian cancer may vary depending on the type of mutation a woman has and where the mutation is located on the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.

From 2000 to 2010, use of CT scans increased dramatically and a study suggests that more CT scans may lead to a higher risk of breast cancer in women, especially young women who have repeat scans.

Benign breast disease increases a woman's risk of breast cancer; the size of the increase depends on the pathology of the benign disease and family breast cancer history.

A new study suggests that black cohosh may possibly reduce breast cancer risk.

Genetics of individual breast cancers may account for differences in diagnosis by race.

Folate has important benefits for health and preventing birth defects, but there is no research that shows that it reduces breast cancer risk.

Women with ATM, CHEK2, or PALB2 mutations may benefit from starting annual breast cancer screening with MRI between the ages and 30 to 35 and an annual MRI and mammogram starting at age 40.

New research suggests that having mammograms twice per year after lumpectomy finds a cancer recurrence (or a new cancer) earlier than only one mammogram per year after surgery.

Many women treated for childhood cancer with chest radiation therapy aren't getting recommended breast cancer screening.

A new study provides more evidence that there seems to be no link between caffeine and breast cancer risk.

Postmenopausal women who exercised regularly in the last 4 years had a lower risk of breast cancer than women who exercised less during that time; women who had exercised regularly between 5 and 9 years earlier but were less active in the past 4 years didn't have a lower risk of breast cancer.

Research suggests that only about half of women with dense breasts have a higher-than-average risk of breast cancer.

Breastcancer.org Professional Advisory Board member calls for breast cancer prevention to start in girlhood.

A study has found that genetic counseling over the phone is equal to in-person genetic counseling for women at high risk for a genetic mutation that would raise their risk of breast or ovarian cancer.

A study found that using high-dose estrogen birth control pills in the previous year was linked to a higher risk of breast cancer in younger women, but using birth control pills with a low dose of estrogen (the type of birth control pills that many women take) WERE NOT linked to a higher risk of breast cancer.

Hormonal contraceptives slightly increase the risk of breast cancer. But the importance of the increase is unique to each woman and depends on many factors.

A study estimates the risk of breast and ovarian cancer by age, taking into account family history and mutation location for women with a BRCA mutation.

Research suggests that women who had radiation to the chest to treat childhood cancer, such as Hodgkin lymphoma, have a risk of breast cancer that's 20 times higher than average -- even higher than doctors have thought.

A study suggests that women who've been diagnosed with breast cancer and have dense breasts are nearly twice as likely to develop cancer in the opposite breast.

MRI monitoring in women previously diagnosed with breast cancer finds more cancers than mammography, but also leads to more biopsies.