There are several breast abnormalities that are not cancerous, but some of these benign conditions are associated with a greater risk of breast cancer than others.

A new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has found that even women with low-category benign breast diseases are at an increased risk of breast cancer compared with women without the disease.

Jiping Wang, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues looked at medical records for 11,307 women from the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial, 1376 of whom had the low-category benign breast disease.

Women with the disease were 60% more likely than women without the disease to develop invasive breast cancer. Women with benign breast disease aged 50 years or older had a 95% increased risk of developing invasive breast cancer compared to women without benign breast disease.

SOURCE:
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, April 21, 2004