A risk factor is anything that affects your chance of getting a disease, such as cancer.
Different cancers have different risk factors. For example, exposing skin to strong sunlight is a risk factor for skin cancer. Smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the lung, mouth, larynx (voice box), bladder, kidney, and several other organs.
But risk factors don't tell us everything. Having a risk factor, or even several, does not
mean that you will get the disease. Most women who have one or more breast cancer risk
factors never develop the disease, while many women with breast cancer have no
apparent risk factors (other than being a woman and growing older). Even when a woman
with risk factors develops breast cancer, it is hard to know just how much these factors
may have contributed to her cancer.
There are different kinds of risk factors. Some factors, like a person's age or race, can't be
changed. Others are linked to cancer-causing factors in the environment. Still others are
related personal behaviors, such as smoking, drinking, and diet. Some factors influence
risk more than others, and your risk for breast cancer can change over time, due to factors
such as aging or lifestyle.
Risk factors you cannot change : Gender, Aging , Genetic risk factors
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It is important to understand some of the key words used to describe breast cancer.
Carcinoma This is a term used to describe a cancer that begins in the lining layer (epithelial cells) of
organs like the breast. Nearly all breast cancers are carcinomas (either ductal carcinomas
or lobular carcinomas).
Adenocarcinoma An adenocarcinoma is a type of carcinoma that starts in glandular tissue (tissue that
makes and secretes a substance). The ducts and lobules of the breast are glandular tissue
(they make breast milk), so cancers starting in these areas are often called
adenocarcinomas.
Carcinoma in situ This term is used for the early stage of cancer, when it is confined to the layer of cells
where it began. In breast cancer, in situ means that the cancer cells remain confined to
ducts (ductal carcinoma in situ) or lobules (lobular carcinoma in situ). They have not
grown into (invaded) deeper tissues in the breast or spread to other organs in the body.
Carcinoma in situ of the breast is sometimes referred to as non-invasive or pre-invasive
breast cancer.
Invasive (infiltrating) carcinoma An invasive cancer is one that has already grown beyond the layer of cells where it
started (as opposed to carcinoma in situ). Most breast cancers are invasive carcinomas -either
invasive ductal carcinoma or invasive lobular carcinoma.
Sarcoma Sarcomas are cancers that start from connective tissues such as muscle tissue, fat tissue,
or blood vessels. Sarcomas of the breast are rare.
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