ABSTRACT: Familial breast cancer: collaborative reanalysis of individual data from 52 epidemiological studies including 58,209 women with breast cancer and 101,986 women without the disease [10/29/2001; The Lancet (UK) Background: Women with a family history of breast cancer are at increased risk of the disease, but no study has been large enough to characterise reliably how, over women's lives, this risk is influenced by particular familial patterns of breast cancer. This report, on the relevance of breast cancer in first-degree relatives, is based on combined data from 52 epidemiological studies. Interpretation: Eight out of nine women who develop breast cancer do not have an affected mother, sister, or daughter. Although women who have first-degree relatives with a history of breast cancer are at increased risk of the disease, most will never develop breast cancer, and most who do will be aged over 50 when their cancer is diagnosed. In countries where breast cancer is common, the lifetime excess incidence of breast cancer is 5.5% for women with one affected first-degree relative and 13.3% for women with two. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.