In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the University Health Center is encouraging women to stay aware that while the risk of developing breast cancer has significantly decreased in recent years, it still remains high.
The Center for Disease Control reported that 186,772 women and 1,815 men were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. Breast cancer is the sixth most common cause of death for women in the United States; in 2004, it killed 40,954.
Since women usually don’t develop breast cancer until they reach their 30s or 40s, college students in their late teens and early 20s may not take the risk into consideration. But health center Director Tom Ryan said the most important thing students can do is to be aware of their personal risk.
“Knowing family history is very important,” said Ryan. “If many of your first-degree relatives have been diagnosed, your chances are increased.”
Simply living in Oregon seems to also increase risk. According to the CDC, Oregon and Washington have higher breast cancer incidence rates than most other states. For every 100,000 people in the Northwest, about 130 develop breast cancer, as compared to about 114 in California and 106 in Nevada. This variance in incidence rates has not been explained.
Ryan said the health center also strongly encourages young women to administer self-exams once a month.
“For someone who isn’t acquainted with breast tissue, it all feels sort of nodular and lumpy,” he said, but once women develop a self-test routine, they can feel subtle changes in their breast tissue.
“In that sense,” Ryan said, “you have some advantage over a practitioner who’s only seen you once.”
Anne Mattson, associate director of the health center, said it’s best to administer self-exams “just after you finish your menstrual cycle,” when hormones are less likely to affect the breasts.
Self-exams can help detect tumors early, and early detection increases a woman’s chances of survival. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 95 percent of patients who catch breast cancer in its earliest stages are guaranteed a five-year survival rate.
For young students, said Tom Ryan, annual clinical exams at the health center are the best way to ensure early detection and will be more effective than mammograms.
“Breast tissue is so dense in young women that mammograms aren’t very helpful,” he said.
Ryan also pointed out the importance of a healthy lifestyle in preventing breast cancer.
“Exercise is identified as a risk-reducing factor, and alcohol increases risk if you drink two or more drinks a day,” he said. In a study released in the American Cancer Society’s cancer journal “CA,” women who weighed at least 176 pounds were shown to have a 25 percent higher risk of breast cancer as compared to those who weighed less than 132 pounds, after adjusting for height.
Women who breastfeed also have a lower risk of developing cancer.
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Breast cancer survival rates higher with early detection
Daily Emerald
October 20, 2007
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