The Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool is a computer program that women and their health care providers can use to estimate a woman's chances of developing breast cancer based on several recognized risk factors. The Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool also provides information on the drug tamoxifen. Scientists at the National Cancer Institute and the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project developed this tool. This fact sheet provides information on the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool and about breast cancer risk and the drug tamoxifen. A recent study, the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial, has shown that tamoxifen can reduce the likelihood of developing breast cancer in women at increased risk for the disease.
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed non-skin cancer in American women.
The risk of breast cancer increases as women get older. No one knows why some women develop breast cancer and others do not. Still, many women who develop breast cancer have no known risk factors other than growing older, and many women with known risk factors do not get breast cancer. Personal history of breast abnormalities . The risk of developing breast cancer increases with age.