Breast cancer: risk factors change with age. Here’s what to watch out for and when
Keeping smoking, alcohol consumption, excess weight and a lack of physical activity under control could prevent one in four cases of cancer
Key points
The unhealthy habits that can affect the risk of breast cancer vary from adolescence through to the menopause and into old age. Keeping smoking, alcohol consumption, excess weight and a lack of physical activity under control could prevent one in four cases of breast cancer, but each age group has ‘its own’ predominant risk factor.
The risk of breast cancer does not develop overnight, nor does it depend on a single wrong choice. Rather, it is the result of a process spanning many years, in which biological, hormonal, genetic and environmental factors come into play, alongside modifiable lifestyle habits that can change over time. And it is precisely time – a factor often overlooked in epidemiological studies to date – that takes centre stage in new research published in Scientific Reports by researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research and Imperial College London, based on data from 113,751 women followed as part of the UK’s Breast Cancer Now Generations Study, a large cohort study set up to investigate the causes of breast cancer. Through repeated questionnaires, the British researchers reconstructed the temporal trends of the four main modifiable risk factors associated with the onset of cancer: alcohol consumption, smoking, low physical activity and excess weight.
This study therefore re-emphasises the importance of prevention, but breaks it down by age group, suggesting that the risk of breast cancer should not be addressed in the same way at the age of twenty, at forty or after the menopause. This is because modifiable risk factors follow different trajectories.
Ages 18 to 30: be careful with smoking and alcohol, as they can jeopardise your health
It is particularly during the transition from adolescence to adulthood that certain signs become apparent. In the cohort studied, average alcohol consumption peaked in late adolescence, before falling significantly between the ages of 20 and 30. Smoking also showed an early peak, whilst physical activity tended to decline after adolescence. At the same time, body mass index begins to rise.
This is a crucial age group for prevention: maintaining an active lifestyle, avoiding smoking and limiting alcohol consumption means tackling factors linked to various cancers and chronic diseases. For breast cancer, in particular, alcohol consumption is a known risk factor: the risk increases with the amount consumed, but there is no level of consumption at which the cancer risk is zero.
