Why is breast cancer on the increase?

One of the things that I find difficult to deal with is when people try to attribute my cancer to something in my lifestyle. As a tee-total pescetarian who has always exercised twice a week and never smoked or taken drugs it does stick in my craw (if only I knew what my craw was). When I was on holiday in Sri Lanka last year, I was talking to various women who were saying that breast cancer was on the increase there too, and with their simple lifestyle, it's not so easy to explain away.

So why are breast cancer rates on the rise? There's some useful information here.

Essentially, there are several key factors:

• Screening is better, so more women know they have it and can be treated for it. Many of our elderly relatives could have died of it without ever being diagnosed.
• Obesity and increased alcohol consumption can increase your chances of getting breast cancer. This doesn't mean that if you drink and are over-weight then you will get breast cancer. If it did, as 64% of the UK population is over-weight and 85% drink regularly there would be very few people left. 
• Prolonged use of HRT. A link was only made recently, which means that many incidences of breast cancer were only latterly attributed to HRT.
• Having children later in life or not at all. One in five women is childless at 45 now which is a significant change to the UK's demographics.
• Getting older. Your chances of getting breast cancer increase every decade you're alive. And most of us are living longer.
• Being a woman. Men do get breast cancer, but it's a lot less common.

Aside from this, there are no proven links to any other cause. So, aside from having had a couple of kids in my teenage years, dying young or being a man, there wasn't a lot I could do to prevent this. Nor could any of the other women who are facing this horrible disease. 

But there is one thing we can all do...check our breasts regularly. Admittedly, I now check mine as if I'm inspecting an unexploded hand grenade, but I do check them. Daily. If there's something there, the sooner you find it, the sooner you can deal with it, and the sooner you deal with it, the better your prognosis. Get this for a staggering statistic: more than 90% of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer at the earliest stage survive for at least five years after diagnosis as opposed to 15% of those whose cancer is at the most advanced stage (stage 4). You can read more here. And it's a lot easier than changing gender.

Amanda