Potential Risk Stratification System for Breast Cancer Developed

In a recent study, researchers developed a model that estimates the absolute risk of developing invasive breast cancer. This model could help increase strategies for breast cancer prevention.

Researchers included 92 susceptibility single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and epidemiological factors such as family history, anthropometric factors, menstrual and reproductive factors, and lifestyle factors to assess risk, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology.

The average range was 4.4% for women at the bottom of risk and 23.5% at the top of risk. Women with a high level of risk due to nonmodifiable factors, women who had low body mass index, those who did not drink or smoke and did not use menopausal hormone therapy, have risks that were similar to the risks of an average woman, the researchers wrote.

Researchers were also able to suggest that a woman who was 30-years-old and Caucasian had an 11.3% risk of developing breast cancer by age 80. It was estimated that 28.9% of breast cancers could be prevented if women in the United States were at the lowest risk from these factors, according to the study.

The researchers were not able to study several known risk factors due to lack of availability.

"Our results illustrate the potential value of risk stratification to improve breast cancer prevention, particularly to aid decisions on risk factor modification at the individual level,” the researchers concluded. “The effect of such models for improving the cost-benefit ratio of population-based prevention programs will depend on the implementation cost of risk assessment.”