Lifestyle Habits Can Increase Risk of Recurrence

By Lillie Shockney, R.N., M.A.S.

We've known for a long time that breast-cancer survivors have a much higher risk of developing a second breast cancer than do women in the general population who have never developed a first breast cancer.

Why this is so, however, hasn't been well understood--until now. It turns out that lifestyle factors might be making survivors more vulnerable to a second cancer.

A new study found that obesity, alcohol use, and smoking all significantly increase the risk of a second breast cancer among breast-cancer survivors.

"We found that obese women had a 50 percent increased risk, women who consumed at least one alcoholic drink per day had a 90 percent increased risk, and women who were current smokers had a 120 percent increased risk of developing a second breast cancer," said lead author Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., an associate member of the Public Health Sciences Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Li, an epidemiologist, primarily studies what causes breast cancer and how it can be prevented.

In addition, the research also suggested that current smokers who imbibe at least 7 drinks a week might be at particularly high risk of a second breast cancer.

Why is this? Scientists have found that either being obese or drinking alcohol is associated with increased levels of estrogen circulating in the body, and estrogen can fuel breast-cancer growth. The researchers believe that this extra estrogen is how obesity and alcohol confer an increased risk of breast cancer.

Of course, the link between smoking and breast cancer can also be attributed to carcinogens in tobacco smoke.

This is worth sharing with others you know who are breast-cancer survivors. The more survivors who know, the better. These risk factors are also something that we have control over (whether we believe we do or not). It's different from when menstruation begins or when menopause happened--we couldn't control variables like those.

So please pass the word: Keep an eye on the scales, avoid excessive social drinking, and don't smoke!