Breast Cancer Symptoms and Risks

Symptoms

• A lump or thickening in or near the breast or in the underarm area
• Nipple tenderness
• A change in the size or shape of the breast
• The nipple is turned inward into the breast
• Nipple discharge

Risk Factors

• Age – breast cancer is uncommon before age 40 and most common after age 60
• Family history of breast cancer in a mother, sister or daughter, especially if it occurred before age 40
• Early age of onset of menstrual periods (before age 12)
• Late age of onset for menopause (after age 55)
• The older the age a woman has her first child, the higher her risk of breast cancer
• The use of hormone replacement therapy (estrogens)
  

Statistics

• One in eight women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in her lifetime
• 62% of Iowa women over the age of 40 have had a mammogram in the last year

Tests

• Women in their 40’s should have mammograms every one to two years
• Women over age 50 should have mammograms every year