Breast Cancer Causes, Signs And Symptoms And Risk Factors

LITERATURE REVIEW INTRODUCTION: This section is going to review literature on overview of breast cancer, its causes, signs and symptoms and risk factors. It will also look at literature on screening methods of breast cancer, particularly mammogram. OVERVIEW OF BREAST CANCER According to Rodney et al (2003), breast cancer is the commonly occurring cancer in women, responsible for one third of all malignancies in females. It is said to be the second to lung cancer as a cause of cancer mortality and has been found to be the leading cause of death for American women between the ages of 40 and 55 years. It has been noted that the incidence of breast cancer is highest in North America and Northern Europe and lowest in Asia and Africa (Rodney et†¦show more content†¦(Galukande et al, 2010) In USA in the year 2015, 232 000 women were newly diagnosed with breast cancer and 40 000 women died of it. It has been also noted that the risk of breast cancer increases with age and women between the ages of 55 and 64 are most frequently diagnosed with breast cancer. The most common age of death for breast cancer is 68 years. (US preventive services task force, 2016.) Breast cancer represents 10% of all cancers diagnosed worldwide annually and constituted 22% of all new cancers in women in 2000 making it by far the most common cancer in women. CAUSES OF BREAST CANCER The causes of breast cancer are not understood thus making it a bit difficult to tell why people develop breast cancer. Age contributes in causing breast cancer and it is common amongst women over the age of 50 years who have gone through menopause. If you had close relatives that had breast cancer in the past then there are high chances that you develop breast cancer. Previous diagnosis of breast cancer is when you had breast cancer before and you were diagnosed, you have a high risk of developing breast cancer again either on your other breast or the same breast. Being obese or overweight may cause breast cancer because of the amount of oestrogen in the body. If you are taller than the average, you are likely to develop breast cancer because it may be caused by interactions between the genes and