Live Well: Preventive Screenings—Breast Cancer

Among women and Canadians assigned female at birth, one in eight can expect to be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. It can also occur in men, and people who were assigned male at birth, although they account for less than 1% of all breast cancer occurrences.

Previously, breast self-examination was promoted as a low cost, minimally invasive way for people to monitor their breast health. Due to the risk of false positives and unnecessary intervention, it’s no longer seen as being the most effective tool although it’s still recommended to know your breasts, and talk to your primary care provider if you notice changes.

The Ontario Breast Screening Program (OBSP) recommends that most women, Two-Spirit, trans and nonbinary people ages 50 to 74 get screened with mammography every 2 years. Cancer Care Ontario sends letters to eligible people who are due for this screening.

Risk Factors

You may get screened more frequently if you have certain risk factors, including:

• dense breasts,
• family history of cancer, or
• gene variants associated with cancer (BRCA1, BRCA2, TP53, PALB2).

There are other factors correlated with increased risk that you may not be aware of. For example, did you know that women who are taller than average may be at a higher risk of developing breast cancer after menopause compared to shorter women? And your risk of developing breast cancer may be lower if you were overweight as a child?

Wondering if you should be getting screened? Ontario Health has an online breast cancer risk assessment tool, that takes about five minutes to complete. If you’re concerned about the results, talk to your primary care provider about whether you need a referral for further testing.