Breast Cancer Warning Signs For Women Over 50

(CTN News) – Breast Cancer can strike anyone at any time, but women over a certain age are at greater risk. The most common type of cancer for women is cancer, and the risk increases after 50.

According to the National Health Service, breast cancer is more common in women over 50 who have been through menopause. About 8 out of 10 cases of cancer occur in women over 50.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also says age is a major factor in  cancer and that studies have shown that your risk for breast cancer depends on a combination of factors. You are more likely to develop cancer if you are a woman and if you get older. Most cancers are found in women over the age of 50.”

The causes of breast cancer.

“This is complicated,” says Dr. Bayo Curry-Winchell, Urgent Care Medical Director and Physician at Carbon Health and Saint Mary’s Hospital. In addition to limited mammogram screening resources and late diagnosis, there are several reasons for the high rate.

The diagnosis of breast cancer in Black/African American and White individuals is the same at this time. Black/African Americans, however, die at a disproportionately higher rate from breast cancer and are typically diagnosed with the most aggressive form.”

According to Dr. Melissa Torrey, MD, Director of the Cancer Program at Redlands Community Hospital, “we look at a wide range of risk factors that contribute to the development of breast cancer, including substance abuse (alcohol especially, smoking cigarettes), late parity (having a baby after age 30) or nulliparity (zero pregnancies), obesity (sedentary lifestyle), prolonged HRT usage in postmenopausal women, and not breastfeeding.

The incidence of cancer is on the rise in this generation because women are starting careers later in life and delaying childbearing until later in life.”

Breast cancer is more common after 50

A person’s risk of getting breast cancer increases as they get older. As people grow older, their cells change more often. Women over 50 have the greatest risk of getting cancer. One in eight women who live to 80 will get the disease, according to experts. About 77 percent of women who get cancer are over 50; less than 1 percent get it in their 20s.

Cancer incidence rates rise steadily with age, from fewer than 25 cases per 100,000 people under 20 to about 350 per 100,000 people between 45 and 49, to more than 1,000 per 100,000 people over 60.”

Breast Cancer and Menopause

Basically, after menopause (when the ovaries stop making estrogen), most estrogen comes from fat.

Because most POST menopausal breast cancers are hormone-sensitive (driven by estrogen) and ER/PR positive, having more fat tissue after menopause can raise estrogen levels and make you more likely to get  cancer.”

Basically, Curry-Winchell says, “Menopause doesn’t cause cancer, but it increases your risk as you get older. A longer exposure to estrogen makes you more likely to get cancer.” In other words, women who have gone through natural menopause are twice as likely to get cancer due to hormonal factors, according to a study published in the National Library of Medicine.”

Compared to women who go through menopause earlier, women who go through menopause later have a higher risk of breast cancer, according to Susan G. Komen. In 117 studies,  cancer risk was analyzed pooled by age at menopause. “For every year a woman was older when she started menopause, breast cancer risk went up by about 3 percent.”

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