- Having had breast cancer increases women’s as well as men’s risk of a second cancer later by around 25%, according to research.
- In addition, a new study reports that female survivors of breast cancer are 87% more likely to develop endometrial cancer than their peers while male survivors are 62% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.
- The age of cancer diagnosis appears to affect second cancer risk, especially for women, as does economic status.
Having breast cancer increases the risk of certain secondary cancers later in life by a significant margin, according to a new
In it, researchers from the University of Cambridge in England report that women with a history of breast cancer had an 87% higher risk of endometrial cancer, a 58% higher risk of myeloid leukemia, a 25% higher risk of ovarian cancer, and an 18% higher risk of pancreatic cancer.
Male survivors of breast cancer had a 62% higher risk of pancreatic cancer, a 31% higher risk of myeloid leukemia, and a 17% higher risk of colorectal cancer than their peers who hadn’t had cancer.
Male breast cancer is rare, with male survivors making up just 3,562 of the study cohort compared to 581,403 female cancer survivors in the study period between 1995 and 2019.
In the past, researchers have
“It’s not always known why some cancer survivors develop a secondary unrelated cancer,” said Dr. Luke Chen, a medical oncologist and hematologist at City of Hope Orange County in California who was not involved in the study.
“We do know that radiation therapy for one form of cancer can put some people at higher risk for developing a second cancer, such as several types of leukemia,” Chen told Medical News Today. “Certain kinds of chemotherapy have also been linked with second cancers such as
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