Does Breast or Ovarian Cancer Run in Your Family?
If you have close relatives with breast or ovarian cancer, you may be more likely to develop these diseases. Does your family health history put you at higher risk? Would you benefit from cancer genetic counseling and testing?
Each year, about 240,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer and over 18,500 are diagnosed with ovarian cancer. About 3% of breast cancers (about 7,200 women per year) and 10% of ovarian cancers (about 1,850 women per year) result from inherited mutations (changes) in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that are passed on in families. Inherited mutations in other genes can also cause breast and ovarian cancer, but BRCA1 and BRCA2 are the genes most commonly affected. Although breast cancer is much more common in women, men with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations are more likely to get breast cancer than other men. BRCA mutations also increase the likelihood of getting pancreatic cancer and, in men, high grade prostate cancer. Knowing your family health history can help you find out if you could be more likely to develop breast, ovarian, and other cancers. If so, you can take steps to prevent cancer or to detect it earlier when it may be more treatable.
Women who inherit a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene are much more likely to develop breast and ovarian cancer. A woman’s specific risk depends on many factors including her age, whether she has a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, and her medical and family history. Steps can be taken to help lower the risk for cancer in women with BRCA1, BRCA2, and other mutations. It’s important to know that not everyone who inherits a BRCA1, BRCA2, or other mutation will get breast or ovarian cancer.
Breast Cancer Risk
Women in the U.S. General Population
About 7 out of 100 women in the U.S. general population will get breast cancer by age 70.
About 93 out of 100 of these women will NOT get breast cancer by age 70.
Women in the U.S. General Population
About 7 out of 100 women in the U.S. general population will get breast cancer by age 70.
About 93 out of 100 of these women will NOT get breast cancer by age 70.
Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 Mutation
About 50 out of 100 women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation will get breast cancer by age 70.
About 50 out of 100 of these women will NOT get breast cancer by age 70.
Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 Mutation
About 50 out of 100 women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation will get breast cancer by age 70.
About 50 out of 100 of these women will NOT get breast cancer by age 70.
Women in the U.S. General Population
About 7 out of 100 women in the U.S. general population will get breast cancer by age 70.
About 93 out of 100 of these women will NOT get breast cancer by age 70.
Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 Mutation
About 50 out of 100 women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation will get breast cancer by age 70.
About 50 out of 100 of these women will NOT get breast cancer by age 70.
Ovarian Cancer Risk
Women in the U.S. General Population
About 1 out of 100 women in the U.S. general population will get ovarian cancer by age 70.
About 99 out of 100 of these women will NOT get ovarian cancer by age 70.
Women in the U.S. General Population
About 1 out of 100 women in the U.S. general population will get ovarian cancer by age 70.
About 99 out of 100 of these women will NOT get ovarian cancer by age 70.
Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 Mutation
About 30 out of 100 women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation will get ovarian cancer by age 70.
About 70 out of 100 of these women will NOT get ovarian cancer by age 70.
Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 Mutation
About 30 out of 100 women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation will get ovarian cancer by age 70.
About 70 out of 100 of these women will NOT get ovarian cancer by age 70.
Women in the U.S. General Population
About 1 out of 100 women in the U.S. general population will get ovarian cancer by age 70.
About 99 out of 100 of these women will NOT get ovarian cancer by age 70.
Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 Mutation
About 30 out of 100 women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation will get ovarian cancer by age 70.
About 70 out of 100 of these women will NOT get ovarian cancer by age 70.
Does Your Family Health History Put You At Risk?
Collect your family health history of breast, ovarian, and other cancers and share this information with your doctor. You can inherit BRCA and other mutations from your mother or your father, so be sure to include information from both sides of your family. Include your close relatives: parents, sisters, brothers, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. If you have had breast, ovarian, or other cancers, make sure that your family members know about your diagnosis.
Tell your doctor if you have a personal or family health history of any of the following:
- Breast cancer, especially at a younger age (age 50 or younger)
- Triple-negative breast cancer in women (Triple-negative cancers are a type of breast cancer that lack estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2.)
- Cancer in both breasts
- Breast cancer in a male relative
- Ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Metastatic or high-grade prostate cancer
- Breast, ovarian, pancreatic, or high-grade prostate cancer among multiple blood relatives
- Ashkenazi or Eastern European Jewish ancestry
- A known BRCA or other cancer-related mutation in the family
You can use the My Family Health Portrait tool to collect your family health history information and share this information with your doctor and other family members. Update your family health history information on a regular basis and let your doctor know if any new cases of breast, ovarian, pancreatic, or prostate cancer occur.
What Can You Do If You Are Concerned About Your Risk?
If your doctor decides that your family health history makes you more likely to get breast, ovarian, and other cancers, he or she may refer you for genetic counseling. Even if your doctor doesn’t recommend genetic testing and counseling, your family health history of breast cancer can affect when you start mammography screening.
The genetic counselor can use your family health history information to determine your possible cancer risks and whether you might consider genetic testing to find out if you have a BRCA1, BRCA2, or other mutation. In some cases, the genetic counselor might recommend genetic testing using a panel that looks for mutations in several genes in addition to BRCA1 and BRCA2. Genetic testing is most useful if first performed on someone in your family who has had breast or ovarian cancer. If this relative has a BRCA1, BRCA2, or other mutation, then their close relatives can be offered testing for that mutation. If they do not have a BRCA1, BRCA2 or other mutation, then their relatives may not need to be tested. BRCA genetic counseling and testing is often, but not always, covered without cost sharing by many health plans under the Affordable Care Act.
Most breast and ovarian cancer is not caused by inherited mutations, so genetic testing will not help most women with a family health history of breast and ovarian cancer. Genetic testing will not identify the cause for some hereditary breast and ovarian cancers, because the genes affected in these cancers are not yet known.