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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Q: How can you reduce your risk of developing breast cancer?
One in eight women who turn 80 will have had breast cancer in their lifetime. It is the second most common cancer in women, and the second most deadly.
A: New research from the National Institutes of Health shows cancer diagnoses in the United States have dropped dramatically during the pandemic. But that doesn’t mean there are fewer cases of cancer.
Instead, doctors say we can miss cases.
Many people are afraid of catching COVID in healthcare settings and go undetected, diagnosed and treated for other illnesses.
Dr. Stephanie Moline is a breast cancer surgeon at Cancer Care Northwest. She said the trend worries health care providers.
“Accessibility in breast cancer and other things are out of necessity overlooked when times are tough and you have to make decisions,” Dr Moline said. “So trying to make sure we make these things a priority to get our health checked while we’re still trying to escape a really nasty virus.”
Dr Moline and other health professionals recommend that women start screening for breast cancer at age 40 and continue to do so every one to two years.
If you have a family history of breast cancer, doctors say you should consider getting tested earlier and more often.
Dr Moline said neglecting routine cancer screenings not only increases your risk of death, but can also put strain on an already strained healthcare system.
“We have breast cancer patients who are waiting over a month to be programmed,” said Dr Moline. “There are people who have breast cancer who haven’t been programmed yet because we don’t have the capacity in our hospitals. Anything we can do to move this pandemic forward and keep people safe, working at home with loved ones and not in the hospital, sounds like a great idea to me. “
Like many health problems, Dr Moline urged women to control the controllable.
Risk factors like family history and age are things we cannot change. But Dr Moline said a change in lifestyle, exercise habits and diet are factors that can reduce the risk.
Dr Moline also recommended keeping an eye out for cardinal signs of cancer, like unexplained weight loss or new lumps and bumps.
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