Having a mother withbreast cancerincreases the chance that you could also develop the disease. While most breast cancer is not hereditary,it is valuable to know if you have family members who were ever diagnosed with the disease. Women with a mother, sister, or daughter who developed breast cancer at a young age (premenopausal) have double therisk of the diseasecompared to those who don’t have this family history.
This article will review the importance of getting an accurate family history and how that can affect someone’s risk of breast cancer. The role of genetic testing will also be discussed.
Verywell / Emily Roberts
Family History and Breast Cancer Risk
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, affecting about 13% of women throughout their lifetimes.A family history of the disease increases your risk, but how much depends on who in your family had breast cancer.
Here’s a general sense of how family history affects a woman’s risk of breast cancer:
Breast cancer or prostate cancer in younger relatives (premenopausalor under 50) raises your risk more than having older relatives with these conditions.
Collecting Your Family History
Your mother is an important figure in your cancer risk profile if she has or has had breast cancer. But, given the above, it’s also helpful to find out if cancer has affected other family members, including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Don’t assume that you know this information—it’s worth specifically asking.
For the purpose of building your own family history, you need to know:
If your mother or father are alive and able to share your family’s background with you, keep track of the information. Once you gather your family history, maintaining that record for yourself and other family members who share some of your medical history would be useful.
Conversations About Cancer
Let them talk about the obstacles they overcame and the things they learned about life as they fought their illness. While these conversations won’t add facts aboutyourhealth, they can be valuable discussions.
Don’t be surprised if a relative—your mother, especially—isn’t immediately forthcoming about sharing her cancer story. In addition to the topic possibly being sensitive, there may be a hesitancy to cause you distress. Express how important it is to you to hear this information and be as supportive as possible as it is shared.
Talking to Someone Who Has Breast Cancer
Using Your Family History
You should certainly share your family history with your medical team. Your healthcare providers might advise genetic testing or counseling if your family history suggests that you could be carrying a breast cancer gene.
Some red flags include:
When You Can’t Find Your Family History
While many women already know if their mother, sister, or daughter have had breast cancer, you might not have this information.
If your close family members passed away at a young age, if some of them didn’t have access to health care (and might not have been diagnosed), if you were adopted, or if members of your family have been otherwise separated, you might not know which illnesses run in your family.
While family history is important information, breast cancer screenings (such asmammograms) are the most important tools for early detection, whether or not you have a family history of the disease.
Genetic Testing
With new genetic testing techniques, breast cancer genes can be identified even before the disease develops. However, such testing isn’t the only factor influencing your risk.
There are several genes associated with breast cancer. The most common areBRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, but over 70 identified gene mutations are associated with breast cancer. And there is a link betweenbreast cancer genes and the outcomeof the disease.
While your family history is a record of the diseases your family members were diagnosed with, genetic testing is slightly different.
You could have inherited a gene for breast cancer even if no one in your family ever had the disease. And you could have a hereditary tendency to develop the condition even if you don’t have an identifiable breast cancer gene.
With this in mind, genetic testing requires a complex decision-making process. The genes you should be tested for, and the overall value of the test depends on several factors, including your age, health history, family history, race, and ethnic background.
A Word of Caution Regarding Home Genetic Tests for Breast Cancer
The idea of a home genetic test for breast cancer is exciting to many people, as these tests might help them avoid the clinic while being an advocate for their health. It’s important to understand the limitations of these tests if you choose to do one.
For example, a popularat-home genetic testidentifies three breast cancer genes that are more common among Ashkenazi women but are rare in other ethnic populations.While the company is transparent in admitting that the test only checks for 3 out of a potential 1,000 BRCA mutations, not everyone reads the small print.
The bottom line of this test is that for Ashkenazi Jewish women, a positive test might let them know they should see their healthcare provider, but a negative result is meaningless. For most women, the test isn’t helpful and can be harmful if they trust the results and do not have formal testing.
Furthermore, “good” results can provide a false sense of security. You can develop breast cancer even if you don’t have a known breast cancer gene.
Non-BRCA Gene Mutations That Raise Breast Cancer Risk
Genetic Counseling
Ideally, everyone would have genetic counseling when testing. A genetic counselor may find areas of concern and can talk to you about what testing means.
For example, not all gene mutations that raise the risk of breast cancer do so to the same degree. This concept is known as penetrance.
Summary
Getting an accurate family history can be an important tool in helping to determine your risk of developing breast cancer. With the average risk of a woman getting breast cancer being about 13%, knowing if you have an increased risk can be important for your healthcare team.
Genetic testing looking for breast cancer genes can benefit some women, especially if they have a strong family history of breast cancer at a young age or any family history of male breast cancer. Talk to your healthcare provider to see if genetic testing is suggested for you.
A Word From Verywell
Whether you have a family history of breast cancer or not, there are ways for you tolower your own risk.Make sure your healthcare team knows if your mother, sister, daughter, or other family members had this disease or if you or any of your relatives carry a gene for the disease. And don’t skip your screenings.
More and more women and men are gettingdiagnosed with breast cancerearlier, receiving more effectivetreatment, and surviving for years after the diagnosis. So while you should be vigilant if you have a family history of breast cancer, there is no need to live in fear.
Frequently Asked QuestionsMost breast cancers are not genetic, so skipping generations isn’t something that would happen. The risk would be the same for each generation. In breast cancers that are passed on through genes, there is a 50% chance of getting the genetic mutation from a parent. If you don’t have the mutation, you don’t continue to pass it along.A genetic predisposition to breast cancer can come from either the mother or father. In the case of inheriting a gene that increases the risk of developing breast cancer, the gene can come from either parent.Yes, you should. The age at which you should start mammograms and the type of mammogram you should have (screening vs. diagnostic) depends upon the type of breast cancer your mother has and the age at which she was diagnosed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most breast cancers are not genetic, so skipping generations isn’t something that would happen. The risk would be the same for each generation. In breast cancers that are passed on through genes, there is a 50% chance of getting the genetic mutation from a parent. If you don’t have the mutation, you don’t continue to pass it along.
A genetic predisposition to breast cancer can come from either the mother or father. In the case of inheriting a gene that increases the risk of developing breast cancer, the gene can come from either parent.
Yes, you should. The age at which you should start mammograms and the type of mammogram you should have (screening vs. diagnostic) depends upon the type of breast cancer your mother has and the age at which she was diagnosed.
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Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.MedlinePlus.Breast cancer.Liu L, Hao X, Song Z, Zhi X, Zhang S, Zhang J.Correlation between family history and characteristics of breast cancer.Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):6360.National Cancer Institute.Cancer stat facts: female breast cancer.Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.Ovarian cancer risk factors & prevention.U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Breast cancer risk factors.U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.People at increased risk for BRCA gene mutations.American Cancer Society.Breast cancer early detection and diagnosis.American Cancer Society.Breast cancer risk factors you cannot change.American Cancer Society.Genetic counseling and testing for breast cancer risk.MedlinePlus.Can a direct-to-consumer genetic test tell me whether I will develop cancer?U.S. Food and Drug Administration.FDA authorizes, with special controls, direct-to-consumer test that reports three mutations in the BRCA breast cancer genes.American Cancer Society.Can I lower my risk of breast cancer?U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.What causes hereditary breast and ovarian cancers.Yale Medicine.New mammogram guidelines: what women should know.Additional ReadingBreastcancer.org.Family history.University of Michigan Health. Michigan Medicine.Family history and the risk for breast or ovarian cancer.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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U.S. Food and Drug Administration.FDA authorizes, with special controls, direct-to-consumer test that reports three mutations in the BRCA breast cancer genes.
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Breastcancer.org.Family history.
University of Michigan Health. Michigan Medicine.Family history and the risk for breast or ovarian cancer.
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