Young women smokers have a higher risk of developing common breast cancer

Are you a young woman and are you thinking about quitting smoking? Here’s another good reason to do so!Recent research suggests that young women who currently smoke and who have smoked one pack of cigarettes a day for 10 years or more were 60% more likely to develop estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer compared with women who have smoked for a shorter period of time. The study looked at 938 cancer-free people, as well as 778 people with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer and 182 people with triple-negative breast cancer, who were between ages 20 and 44 and were diagnosed between 2004 and 2010. Another study from 2011 showed that smoking early in life may raise a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. The study showed smoking before menopause, especially before having children, slightly increased the risk of breast cancer among a large group of women who participated in the study. Breast cancer risk was 18% higher among those who began smoking before giving birth to their first child and 4% higher for those who started smoking after the first birth but before menopause. In contrast, never smoking and passive smoke exposure in childhood were not associated with an increase in breast cancer risk. ...

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