TEST YOUR BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

True or False?

1.  Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in women.  

2.  Only women with a family history of breast cancer will develop the disease.

3.  A woman with a breast lump has breast cancer. 

4.  Men can't get breast cancer. 

5.  Women who have injured a breast are at an increased risk of breast cancer.

6.  Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women. 

7.  Research has identified several factors that may affect a women’s risk of developing breast cancer.  

1.  TRUE.  Although lung cancer is the number one cancer killing women, more women develop breast cancer.  One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will encounter breast cancer in her lifetime.

2.  FALSE. Although women who have a family history of breast cancer are at a slightly greater risk, all women are at increased risk as they age. More than 70 percent of all women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history of this disease.

3.  FALSE. Approximately 80 percent of all breast lumps are benign.

4.  FALSE.  Although breast cancer is primarily a disease of women, almost 1% of breast cancers occur in men. In 2007, it is estimated that 2,030 men in the U.S. will develop invasive breast cancer and 400 of those men will die.

5.  FALSE. There is no evidence that an injury can result in breast cancer. Sometimes an injury may draw a woman's attention to her breast where a cancer already exists.

6.  FALSE. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women; however, breast cancer is a close second.

7.  TRUE.  Risks for breast cancer include a family history, atypical hyperplasia, delaying pregnancy until after age 30 or never becoming pregnant, early menstruation (before age 12), late menopause (after age 55), current use or use in the last ten years of oral contraceptives, and daily consumption of alcohol.

Sources:
American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute, Komen Foundation, Canadian Cancer Society, Web MD