May
My Grandmother had a mammogram done and they see some kind of lump/mass. She's scheduled to have a sonogram done. I'm extremely nervous. I don't know what I'd do if anything, God forbid, were to happen to her. She has had this happen before only to find out that the lumps were just cysts and weren't perilous to her health. What are the odds that someone gets breast cancer at 71 years old?
Answer:
The biggest risk factor for breast cancer is age.
80% of all those diagnosed are over 50 and the average age at diagnosis is a tiny over 60.
Of women aged over 50 who develop breast cancer 24% are aged between 70-79.
The risk by age is:
Risk up to age 25 1 in 15,000
Risk up to age 30 1 in 1,900
Risk up to age 40 1 in 200
Risk up to age 50 1 in 50
Risk up to age 70 1 in 15
Risk up to age 80 1 in 11
Risk up to age 85 1 in 10
Family history isn't really important here; only 5 - 10% of breast cancer cases are hereditary and cancer diagnosed after the age of 50 is even less prone to be hereditary
I hope she turns out to be fine. Most breast lumps, even in older women, aren't cancerous.
Answer:
I can't tell you for sure, I'm not a doctor, but I would assume that someone has just as much a chance for getting cancer at an older age as they would at a younger age. :[
I sure hope it's not.