While Anglo American women have the greatest risk of developing breast cancer, African Americans are twice as likely to die from the disease. The physicians of Texas want all women to know they are at risk of breast cancer regardless of ethnic background. For all women, prevention and early detection are important. For those ethnic groups that are at particularly high risk, careful monitoring is much more essential. Having one or several risk factors, does not necessarily mean that a person will get the disease but that their chances of having the disease are greater.
Breast cancer can also affect men, but to a lesser degree.
About 77 percent of women with breast cancer are over age 50 at the time of diagnosis. A women with cancer in one breast is three to four times more likely to develop cancer in the other breast. Women who started menstruating before age 12 or who went through menopause after age 50 have a higher risk. Women who have two to five drinks daily, have about 1.5 times the risk of women who drink no alcohol. Although most of the associated risk factors cannot be controlled, early detection, and early treatment, may be promoted through routine breast self exam beginning around age 20 and screening mammography after age 40.