Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in Denmark with more than 4,500 cases per year in recent years. Among the women who were diagnosed with breast cancer during 1999-2003, approximately 81% were alive 5 year after the diagnosis.

The high incidence of breast cancer combined with the favourable prognosis after the disease results in a large number of women currently being survivors of the disease. Thus, at the end of 2013 approximately 60,000 women living in Denmark had a previous breast cancer diagnosis.

These women are at risk of developing cancer in the opposite breast and this risk is generally higher than the risk for a first breast cancer in the general female population. More knowledge about the factors that affects this risk is needed to identify women at high risk who should be monitored more closely.

More knowledge is needed about why breast cancer occurs. Certain genes may determine whether a person is particularly sensitive towards carcinogenic effects. It is well known that body size influences the risk of breast cancer. Increasing height is associated with an increasing risk of breast cancer, but the underlying cause for this association is unknown. Overweight and obesity increase the risk of breast cancer after menopause, but it is not known how body weight in childhood and adolescence affects this association. Another issue is whether reduced calorie intake may protect against breast cancer.

Breast cancer, diagnosed during or shortly after pregnancy is a rare event, however the frequency will increase as more women give birth at a later age. The coincidence between cancer diagnosis and pregnancy causes a number of questions concerning how to secure optimal treatment for the mother while not inducing any health risk to the foetus.

Contact:

Lene Mellemkjær, lene@cancer.dk