Maine Breast and Cervical Health Program - Information for Maine Women

Breast Cancer Risk Factors

The exact cause for breast cancer is unknown. All women are at risk for breast cancer; simply being a woman is the main risk factor for breast cancer. According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, several risk factors may increase your chances of getting breast cancer. Risk factors that increase risk of breast cancer include:

• Getting older.
• Being younger when you had your first menstrual period.
• Starting menopause at a later age.
• Being older at the birth of your first child.
• Never giving birth.
• Personal history of breast cancer or certain non-cancerous breast diseases.
• Family history of breast cancer (mother, sister, daughter, father, brother).
• Previous treatment with radiation therapy to the breast/chest.
• Being overweight (increases risk for breast cancer after menopause).
• Long-term use of hormone replacement therapy (estrogen and progesterone combined).
• Having changes in the breast cancer-related genes BRCA1 or BRCA2.
• Using birth control pills, also called oral contraceptives.
• Drinking alcohol (more than one drink a day).
• Not getting regular exercise.

Having a risk factor does not mean you will get the disease. Most women have some risk factors and most women do not get breast cancer. If you have breast cancer risk factors, talk with your doctor about ways you can lower your risk and about screening for breast cancer.

The following factors have not been proven to increase a woman's risk or chances of breast cancer:

• underarm antiperspirants
• underwire bras
• induced abortions
• miscarriages
• Silicone breast implants

Having one or more of the risk factors doesn't make it certain that a woman will develop breast cancer. However, women with one or more risk factors need to be especially watchful.

Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines

The American Cancer Society recommends that women age 40 or older should have a breast exam by a doctor or nurse and a screening mammogram every year.

Cervical Cancer Risk Factors

According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, an HPV infection is needed to develop cervical cancer, and other factors increase a woman's risk of developing cervical cancer. A woman can best protect herself from cervical cancer by:

• Limiting her number of sexual partners
• Getting screened regularly with a Pap test
• Following up on any abnormal Pap test results as recommended by her health care provider
• Not smoking cigarettes

Women who have not had a Pap test in five or more years are most at risk for developing cervical cancer. Because the Pap test detects pre-cancerous cell changes, cervical cancer can almost always be prevented with regular Pap tests.

MBCHP Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines

• Annually using Conventional Pap test.
• Every two years using liquid-based cytology.
• After a woman has three normal Pap tests in a row, she can then get a Pap test once every 3 years.

Additionally, women over the age of 70 who have had several regular Pap tests with normal results may be told by their doctor that they don’t need to be tested anymore.

Pap Smear After Hysterectomy

Women who have had a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) and have no cervix, may not need Pap tests if the hysterectomy was not for cervical cancer.