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 Breast Cancer
 
Child-Bearing and Risk  

I have never had children. Am I at a greater risk for breast cancer?

Evidence does suggest that women who never had children are at a slightly elevated risk of breast cancer. To understand why this is the case, you need to understand the connection between estrogen and breast cancer.

Estrogen alone does not cause cancer. The hormone, estrogen, is an essential part of a woman's physiology. However, estrogen’s principal function is to speed the process of cell proliferation. Therefore, estrogen can increase the chance of a mutation occurring and/or encourage the growth of cancerous cells once they appear.

The more estrogen a woman is exposed to during her lifetime, the greater the opportunity for the hormone to promote the growth of a tumor. During pregnancy, estrogen production decreases. Thus, women who have never been pregnant have had more exposure to estrogen during their lifetime, which puts them at a slightly higher risk for breast cancer.


Related Questions of Child-Bearing and Risk
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What is a risk factor?
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What is the connection between estrogen and breast cancer?
I have had fertility treatments. Does this increase my risk?
If I take birth control pills, am I at greater risk of getting breast cancer?
What are phytoestrogens? Do they cause breast cancer?
What causes breast cancer?
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What risk factors can you control ?
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I started menstruating at a very young age. Am I at greater risk of getting breast cancer?
If I am overweight, am I at a greater risk of developing breast cancer?
I've heard that being overweight before menopause helps lower your risk of breast cancer. Is this true?
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I started menstruating when I was very young. Does this put me at higher risk?
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