Young females, who smoke, might have a higher risk of a common form of breast cancer, indicated the results of new research just completed.
Researchers have found that females between the ages of 20 and 44, who smoke at least one pack of cigarettes each day for a minimum of 10 years, were 60% more apt than those who smoked fewer cigarettes to develop the so-called breast cancer, estrogen receptor-positive.
Smokers however, were no more apt to develop a type of breast cancer that is less common referred to as triple-negative, which is usually more aggressive.
One of the researchers said that there is more evidence that another health hazard that is associated with smoking is breast cancer.
Research previously found ties between breast cancer and smoking, said researchers. The studies however, amongst breast cancer and younger women have produced results that are conflicting.
The researchers also have said there are questions that remain about whether smoking is tied to a higher risk of certain forms of the cancer and not others.
The team of researchers analyzed data of a group of Greater Seattle, Washington young women who had been diagnosed from 2004 to 2010 with breast cancer.
There were 778 women diagnosed during that period with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, which is the more common form. There were 182 diagnosed with the triple-negative form, which is more aggressive and less common.
Another 939 women, who are cancer free, had their information included for comparison reasons.
The National Cancer Institute says that one in eight women in the U.S. will eventually develop some form of breast cancer, but at a younger age, the risk is less.
Only one in 227 women at 30 years of age or less than 0.5% will have breast cancer develop before they are 40 years old.
For this study, the young females who smoked were 30% more apt to develop any type of breast cancer, when compared to females who never had smoked.
Women who had smoked recently or were currently smoking and had been smoking for 15 years or more were 50% more apt to develop the estrogen receptor-positive form of breast cancer. Those who said they had been smoking one pack or more of cigarettes for at least 10 years were 60% more apt to develop that form of cancer.
