Stress might limit production of estrogen, Reduce Breast Cancer
News that could ease worries about breast cancer, but at what costs: Women with higher levels of daily stress showed a lower risk of developing breast cancer, according to the latest research.
But that's no reason to increase your stress levels, said the study authors. Stress is not a desirable state and it may lead to the development of other disease, particularly cardiovascular disease.
So what does this information potentially contribute?
"Stress is a large problem, especially in the westernized world, and this study may help us understand some of the mechanisms behind breast cancer and how stress actually affects breast-cancer risk," Nielsen said. "Further, some women may partly blame their own stressful lifestyle when diagnosed with breast cancer. Hopefully,
this and other studies may counteract such reactions."
Stress May Reduce Women'sRisk of Breast Cancer
The study findings appear in the Sept. 10 issue of the British Medical Journal.
Questionnaire Helps Determine Breast Cancer Risk
MONDAY, Sept. 26 (HealthDay News) -- A questionnaire that identifies women at risk of inherited breast or ovarian cancer can help pinpoint those who may need further screening and preventive treatment, researchers report.
The questionnaire, filled out by women coming to the hospital for mammograms, may also allow earlier diagnosis of cancer, concludes the study, published in the November issue of Cancer.
The eight-month study included about 14,000 women who came to the Massachusetts General Hospital's Avon Breast Evaluation Center in Boston. The women completed a questionnaire on their family history of breast or ovarian cancer, whether they had developed any tumors, and other related factors.
The information was then downloaded into a database available to the patients' doctors. The data was analyzed in order to evaluate cancer risk among women who carried mutations in the so-called breast cancer genes -- BRCA1 or BRCA2.
Among the 1,764 study volunteers who had been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer, 20.6 percent had family histories that indicated an elevated risk of one of the tumor-associated mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2, the researchers found.
"We wanted to show we could identify these high-risk women with an automated system that provides accurate information without requiring more work for our staff, an approach that has been tried in very few centers worldwide," study senior author Dr. Kevin Hughes of the MGH Surgical Oncology Division, said in a prepared statement.
"In addition to verifying the utility of this strategy, these results remind us how many women who should be tested for these genetic mutations are not being screened," Hughes said.
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about breast cancer screening.
While some researchers have studied the effect of acute stress -- such as the death of a family member -- on breast cancer, less attention has been paid to the impact of routine daily stress.
The researchers examined data on 6,689 women participating in the Copenhagen City heart study. At the beginning of the study (1981-83), participants were asked about their levels of routine, daily stress -- defined as anxiety, impatience, nervousness, sleeplessness or tension. The women were followed until 1999.
Breast cancer has increased dramatically over the past 20 years
"One in eight chance of breast cancer" -- which comes from the National Cancer Institute -- is an estimate of a woman's chance of developing breast cancer during her entire lifetime. So if a woman lives to be 85, she has a one in eight (12.5%) chance of getting breast cancer. But for younger women the odds are much better. For example, a 50-year-old woman has a 1 out of 54 chance. At age 40, a woman's odds of getting breast cancer are 1 in 235.
Men can get breast cancer, too.
Men have breast tissue, so it is possible for them to develop breast cancer. Like all cells of the body, a man's breast duct cells can undergo cancerous changes. Because women have many more breast cells than men do, and perhaps because their breast cells are constantly exposed to the growth-promoting effects of female hormones, breast cancer is much more common in women. This year about 1500 men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States.
Breast-feeding may decrease your risk for breast cancer
Women who breast-feed can get breast cancer, but no studies indicate that breast-feeding causes breast cancer. Some studies indicate that breast-feeding can reduce a woman's risk of developing the disease.
Can birth-control pills cause breast cancer?
Today's birth-control pills contain a low dose of the hormones estrogen and progesterone. They have not been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer and, in fact, can provide some protection against ovarian cancer. The higher-dose contraceptive pills used in the past were associated with a small increased risk in only a few studies.
A monthly breast self-exam is the best way to find breast tumors.
Fact: High-quality mammography is the most reliable way to find breast cancer as early as possible. So it's important that you get yearly mammograms (for women 40 and older), yearly clinical breast exams, and monthly self-exams. 80% of women who get breast cancer have no known family history of the cancer. Increasing age is the biggest single risk factor for breast cancer. If you have a family history of breast cancer, your risk may be elevated a little.
American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute, National Breast Cancer Foundation is the source for this information.