Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool

I don't know how useful this is in general. I ran it using my pre-diagnosis answers, and it said I would be calculated as having below-average risk. If you were to look at a variety of other risk factors, including my weight, exercise, eating habits, and on and on, all of those factors would put me below average. I would take it with a huge grain of salt.

EDITED to add: there is no reason this would be a good calculator. As it says specifically, "Factors included: patient's personal medical and reproductive history and the history of breast cancer among her first-degree relatives (mother, sisters, daughters)."

So factors include age, race, age of first menstruation, age of first childbirth, and some evidence of genetic mutation, either shown by BRCA1 or BRCA2, or by having a first degree relative with breast cancer. From breastcancer.org, "About 5% to 10% of breast cancers are thought to be hereditary, caused by abnormal genes passed from parent to child."

So the main defining variable this calculator uses is one that affects a small number of women.

Unfortunately, while there are many variables that seem to lend more or less risk, it seems that the main factor for why most of us get breast cancer is random shitty luck.

Thank you Dr Mammo for posting this. Out of curiosity I put in my information and my risk while still small was almost double the average risk. I think it highlights once again that we are missing some key parts of the breast cancer puzzle.

Thank you for this,

Id have to say that these tools sometimes dont take alot into consideration especially as a young patient.

I was told by two Dr's that my aunt having BC wouldn't put me at risk but in fact it did, there is definitely a heredity link to my cancer.

Just yesterday the guidelines for risk assessment were updated by three professional organizations have put out guidelines on how to treat and manage breast cancer in people with a genetic mutation linked to a higher risk of the disease. Guess what it now included in the genetic mutation guidelines? Aunts of course.

https://ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.1200/JCO.20.00299

This just proves that there is alot that physicians, patients and researchers are still figuring out about cancer.