Study finds increase in younger women being diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer


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Updated: 2/26 10:36 pm | Published: 2/26 6:27 pm
Reported by: Kimberly Nelson

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – A new study shows an increase in younger women being diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer.

A new study in Journal of the American Medical Association found the number of women between the ages of 25 and 39, being diagnosed with advanced staged breast, has increased from 1.5 per 100,000 in 1976 to 2.9 per 100,000 in 2009.

Dr. Brett Parkinson said it’s a trend that’s also presenting itself here in Utah. "What we're seeing at intermountain is more younger women diagnosed with breast cancer,” said Dr. Parkinson. “We are also seeing that many of those women are also being diagnosed at a later stage."

So why the increase? Dr. Parkinson thinks it may be because women are no longer doing self breast exams.

"What I think what's happened is that there has been a wide spread ignorance of breast health,” said Dr. Parkinson. “So women might not be doing self breast exams so by the time they show up here in the breast center they're more advanced then they used to be."

To decrease the risk, Dr. Parkinson says, it's important for all young women to pay close attention to their family's health history and check themselves regularly.

"The trend is scary and the message we need to get out to women is do not ignore any lumps."

For more information on breast cancer screening log on to: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/screening/breast/Patient/page1
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bodybalanced - 2/26/2013 10:32 PM
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I knew that without any study being done. As a provider, I specialize in hormone balancing for women and men. What is worrisome is the large number of young women being placed on contraceptives for many years consecutively. There are many studies indicating that the progestin (synthetic progesterone) part of birth control formulations greatly increase the risk of proliferative breast cancer. Progestins are dramatically different from our natural progesterone and do not "fit" on the cell receptor perfectly well, as our natural hormones do. In fact, they increase estrogen sensitivity instead of policing it and keeping estrogen effects in check, as our natural progesterone would do. There is a belief that breast cancer is caused by hormones- this is not exactly true. Hormonal imbalances, or SYNTHETIC hormones (like in birth control) do contribute to more rapid proliferation of a breast cancer cell once it is formed. Breast cancer cells occur because of environmental exposures, genetics, dietary deficiencies and stress. Our body's natural progesterone actually aids in preventing cancer proliferation by a process called apoptosis, or ridding the body of old and damaged cells. Progestins do not offer this protective effect. It makes complete sense that by altering the molecular structure of a hormone, you will see different effects than what the initial hormone was. I feel women need to be more educated on this, and use birth control very very judiciously. Also, I would completely recommend avoidance of third generation progestins (like in Yaz, Yazmin, or the Nuva Ring) because the risk dramatically higher. This is very disconcerting, since a large majority of young women are on these very brands! Pharmaceutical companies do not want awareness of these risks to spread, because they would lose a great deal of money. These are a professional's recommendations. For more information, I encourage you to read Dr. John Lee's works, or Dr. Uzzi Reis, or Dr. D Zava
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