Lifestyle Factors that Contribute to Increases Risk of Secon

1. Lifestyle Factors that Contribute to Increases Risk of Second Breast Cancer

2. Lifestyle factors have a significant role to play in the way our physical health and wellbeing shapes up. In case of patients with cancer, it is very important to take these factors into consideration, especially for breast cancer patients. There is always a risk of a second cancer that may return. Therefore, such lifestyle factors should be known to people.

3. Not Having Children Women who do not have children, or who have had their children after 30, are at a slightly greater risk of second breast cancer. Having several pregnancies or becoming pregnant early reduces the risk of breast cancer significantly. Pregnancy also reduces the total menstrual cycle number in a lifetime, which could be a reason for the effect.

4. Taking Birth Control Pills There are different types of birth control pills available on the market, which includes the regular oral contraceptives and other pills like DMPA (Depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate). Studies have shown that females consuming oral contraceptive pills have slightly increased risk of getting breast cancer than the ones who have never taken them.

5. While the risk may seem to be get back to normal as the pills are stopped, it may not be so in reality. Women who have stopped taking pills for about 10 years or more don’t appear to have risk of breast cancer. DMPA, on the other hand, is an injectable progesterone hormone given to women once in every three months for birth control. According to some studies, these shots can increase breast cancer risk. However, the risk does not seem to increase if the drug was taken for over 5 years.

6. PMS Hormone Therapy Hormone therapy is the use of estrogen, usually in combination with progesterone, used for several years for relieving the signs of menopause and prevents thinning of bones (osteoporosis). Previous studies have shown that it could have many more health benefits too, but the benefits haven’t been found in the recent studies.

7. This is one treatment that goes by several names like hormone replacement therapy or HRT, menopausal hormone therapy or MHT, and post-menopausal therapy or PHT. There are different types of hormone therapies for women, of which 2 types are used commonly. For women having their uterus (womb) intact, doctors usually prescribe progesterone and estrogen, also called a combined hormone therapy. It is very important to have progesterone since estrogen alone could increase the chance of uterine cancer. Women who have undergone hysterectomy (uterus removed surgically), can rely on estrogen alone. This is called estrogen replacement therapy or ERT.

8. Breastfeeding It has been found that breastfeeding can reduce the risk of second breast cancer slightly. However, this remains a critical area of study, especially in American states, where women hardly breastfeed for 6 months. Long-term breastfeeding can reduce risks dramatically.

9. Alcohol Consumption Needless to say, drinking alcohol has several side effects. It also increases the risk of different types of cancers and other diseases. Women consuming 1 drink daily have small amount of risk, while others who take 2 to 4 drinks have higher.

10. Obesity One of the greatest threats to cancer is your body weight. If you do not keep your weight in control, your chances of a second breast cancer increase rapidly.