AACR: Familial Breast Cancer Risk for Black Women Hits Younger and Harder

An African-American woman whose mother or sister was diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50 has triple the likelihood that she will be diagnosed with the malignancy before age 45, researchers here reported. The familial breast cancer risk for black women is similar to that of white women, but black women are more likely to develop breast cancer at a younger age and the cancers are often more aggressive, said Boston University epidemiologist Julie R. Palmer, Sc.D., at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting.
The take-home message for physicians, she said, is simple. That message is to ask young African-American women -- those in the 20s, 30s, and 40s--about family history of breast cancer, she said.
"The risk associated with having a mother or sister with breast cancer has been well recognized for white women, but we have not previously assessed the family history risk for African American women,” she said, discussing findings from the 59,000-participant Black Women's Health Study.