What are the known risk factors for breast cancer?

What are the known risk factors for breast cancer?


Many of the known breast cancer risk factors, such as
age, family history, age at first full-term pregnancy, early
menarche, late menopause, and breast density, are not
easily modifiable. However, other factors associated with
increased breast cancer risk (postmenopausal obesity,
use of post-menopausal hormones, alcohol consumption,
and physical inactivity) are modifiable. Some risk
factors directly increase lifetime exposure of breast
tissue to circulating ovarian hormones (early menarche,
late menopause, obesity, and hormone use), whereas
others, such as higher socioeconomic status, are only
correlates of reproductive behavior or other factors.
Established risk factors for breast cancer are listed in
Table 3 (page 10) in order of the strength of their
association.