medical For All

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Risk of breast cancer falls as you age

A woman’s risk for breast cancer declines as she grows older,researchers conclude.That’s because as women age,their milk –producing glands(lobules)start to shut down.This natural process is called lobular regression,or involution.Since its believed that breast cancer originates in the lobules,a reduction in their size and number reduces cancer risk.The Mayo study of over 8,700 women found that those benign breast disease and little or no involution were twice as likely to develop breast cancer compared to women whose breast glandular tissues had been replaced with connective and fatty tissue.The researchers also found that 53% of women ,age 70 and older had complete involution.
Women who had never used hormone replacement therapy were more likely to have complete involution than those who did(22.9%vs.20.3%), the women researchers add.27% women who had no children had complete involution, compared to18% women who had more than three children. Breast-feeding had no impact on involution, the study found. This study is the first to establish that the extent of breast involution relates directly to risk for breast cancer.
posted by suzzee, 11:07 AM

0 Comments:

Add a comment