United States: The latest finding revealed that those women who were successfully cured of breast cancer may still face a rising risk of developing cancer of other kinds.
However, as the researchers have emphasized, the 100 percent risk of developing a secondary cancer to any breast cancer survivor remains low.
Antonis Antoniou, the senior study author and who is working at the department of public health and primary care at the University of Cambridge in Britain stated, “This is the largest study to date to look at the risk in breast cancer survivors of developing a second cancer,” as the US News reported.
How was the study conducted?
Antoniou and his team examined the data from more than 580,000 female and 3,500 male breast cancer survivors who participated in the U.K.’s National Cancer Registration Dataset.
The diagnosis of their disease determined the period from 1995 to 2019, which is the first stage of breast cancer.
The number of women with breast cancer diagnoses in the other breast provided a higher percentage than the women with hereditary cancer.
Risks involved with Breast cancer
Female breast cancer survivors who’ve been diagnosed with a second breast tumor exhibited odds of double the rate of arising in their other breast in comparison to women who’d never even had breast cancer before, according to the reports of their study released April 24 in the journal Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
Out of all types of male cancer (where cancer in the other breast is very rare), the findings revealed a 55 times risk of men getting cancer in the other breast.
Besides the above-mentioned types, we also have a statistic where breast cancer survivors have 87 percent higher odds of uterine cancer, 58 percent higher risk for leukemia (including blood and immune system cells), and 25 percent increased odds of ovarian cancer when compared to women who have never had breast cancer.
A patient’s age at first diagnosis of breast cancer also mattered: Women with cancer findings prior to 50 years of age faced an 86 percent probability of having another one later than women who just found out after the age of 50, having a 17 percent increased risk for secondary tumors was shown.
Why does age matter?
Whether the women carry cancer-associated genes when first diagnosing breast cancer early in life or not, the research team led by Antonio will try to determine such an issue.
The situation may also be that economic factors will make breast cancer visitors belonging to the poor have a 35 percent higher chance of a second tumor than those longing towards the richest of this land.
Isaac Allen, the study lead and a PhD student at Cambridge stated, “This is further evidence of the health inequalities that people from more deprived backgrounds experience,” and, “We need to fully understand why they are at greater risk of second cancers so that we can intervene and reduce this risk,” as US News reported.