CAUSE+Breast+cancer+melissa+and+michelle

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Breast cancer is very uncommon in young women, it is most common for women at an older age. Eventhough the precise causes of breast cancer are unclear, we do know what the main risk factors are. Women who begin having their periods at an early age or still have them after the age of fifty-five are more likely to get breast cancer. Heredity is also a main risk factor. If your family members used to have breast cancer, then you are more likely to develop it. For women who take hormones as therapy for the symptoms of menopause (the time in a woman's life in which the menstrual cycle ends), their breast cancer rate is higher. There is also a higher risk for women who have never been pregnant or have their first child after the age of thirty. In the United States, breast cancer is more common in white women than in Latina, Asian, or African American women. Breast cancer is also more common in nuns because they never have babies, and this was once known as the "nun disease".

All these risk factors might seem frightening to you, but don’t worry. As Dr. George Olsen once said: "Of those women who do get breast cancer, far more than half of them make a total recovery and continue to live normal lives "

Quiz Question: Why was breast cancer once known as the “nun disease”?