Second hand smoke and bc -- 90% risk?

EbonyEyes · September 2015

Was recently diagnosed with one area of IDC NOS/DCIS and two areas of DCIS. There is no history of bc on either side of my family and I had no personal risk factors. However, my mother smoked one pack of cigarettes a day and my dad smoked five. I've read that second hand smoke increases your risk for bc 90%. What does this mean in practical terms? I'm so tired of hearing about percentages: mammo, ultrasound,and biopsy -- 85% chance the lump was nothing. 9% lifetime risk of getting bc which I think is below average. Well I got it anyway. For that matter, my lifetime risk of becoming diabetic was only 6% and I got that too. What does that stat really mean?

inks · September 2015

My endocrinologist considers type 2 diabetes a lifestyle disease and he never referred to any risk % although my grandmother has diabetes, he said that I will avoid diabetes by living a healthy lifestyle. So stats don't mean anything, they just say what % of population under what conditions has the disease. There is nothing you can do about the second hand smoke you were subjected to in childhood and there is nothing you can do about the fact that you got BC. But you can take charge of your health from here on by living a healthy lifestyle.

EbonyEyes · September 2015

I live a healthy lifestyle and I resent your assumption that I don't. That "fat/lazy/self-indulgent" stereotype keeps a lot of people frrom seeking help when they suspect diabetes. My endo says type 2 is mostly hereditary, yours needs some education.

5th generation diabetic, most of whom(like me) were skinny at the time of diagnosis.

BTW, if you think living a healthy lifestyle is some guarantee you won't get type 2 you will be just as surprized as my thin, vegetarian,health food eating, vitamin popping, non-drinking, non-smoking, exercise fanatic great grandmother.

BarredOwl · September 2015

Hi EbonyEyes:

Just talking numbers, a 90% increase in risk sounds like a lot, but it is less than 2-fold (1.9). If the baseline risk is small, a two-fold increase is not that big (e.g., two times a small number is still a small number).

Here is an explanation of risk numbers, with an example about a 50% increase in risk (which translates to 1.5 versus 1.0):

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc...

The link above also explains how increasing age is a risk factor for breast cancer.

From another one of your threads, there was a discussion of how family history can be tricky. For example, if family members died prematurely from another cause, that could make a family history less informative. Also discussed was a recent study that suggested that some breast cancer predisposition genes may not show the same age effect as BRCA1/2. Much remains unknown.

The risk estimates are population based. An individual's risk may be higher, lower, or the same as that of the particular population. In a way, risk estimates are more informative after the fact, and for the people who fall on the right side of the statistic. One way of looking at things at the individual level is that something will either happen (100%) or it won't (0%). At the population level, one outcome may be more likely. I am not saying to throw all risk estimates out the window. For example, they can be a basis for making informed decisions about risk reduction steps going forward, although sadly, there are no guarantees.

BarredOwl

inks · September 2015

EbonyEyes - where did I refer to you as being "fat/lazy/self-indulgent" ??????????????

I was only making a reference to a healthy life style. As in if you are concerned about second hand smoke in your childhood the only thing you can do about it now is to avoid second hand smoke.

But I am truly sorry that your type 2 diabetes is hereditary and therefore there is nothing you can do about it. But you can read into it however way you choose.

Second hand smoke and bc -- 90% risk?

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