Study Finds Young Mothers More At Risk For Breast Cancer<

Study Finds Young Mothers More At Risk For Breast Cancer

While younger women were previously thought to have been at a much lower risk for the disease, new cancer research is now finding that mothers, regardless of age, may be at a higher risk for developing “postpartum breast cancer.”

via USA Today

While breast cancer is not common in women so young, almost one-third of the 25,000 cases diagnosed in women under age 45 fall into the category of postpartum breast cancer, also called pregnancy-associated breast cancer, says Pepper Schedin, a professor at the University of Colorado in Denver.

For reasons doctors don’t completely understand, a woman’s risk of breast cancer actually goes up in the five years or so after she has a child, Schedin says.

It’s likely that the hormones of pregnancy play a role, says Eric Winer, director of breast oncology at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. For example, hormonal surges and fluctuations may speed up the growth of a pre-existing cancer, leading a woman to be diagnosed sooner than she might have been if she had never been pregnant.

Of course, there are also other contributing factors that make a woman high-risk for breast cancer such as family history. Be sure to stay informed and stay healthy with regular check ups and doctor visits.

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