During this year’s Pinktober, did you happen to come across the “1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime” statistic?  Here are three screen caps with this statistic:

Now from the American Cancer Society’s website:

A Komen affiliate website:

 

I actually learned recently that this 1 in 8 statistic is actually a teensy bit misleading.   Lifetime risk isn’t the same of your actual risk based on your age.  You know what blows my mind?  I found actual scientific information explaining this statistic on Susan G. Komen’s website (I know, knock me over with a feather):

Women in the U.S. have a “1 in 8” (or about 12 percent) lifetime risk of getting breast cancer [4-5]. This means that for every eight women in the U.S. who live to be age 85, one will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime.

Source: Komen

So next time you come across the “1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime,” keep in mind the second part of that statement: “who live to the age of 85.”

I don’t know why charities and organizations use that statistic so much and with little explanation.  Maybe they want to scare people into thinking breast cancer is going to happen to everyone or maybe they don’t really understand the lifetime risk vs. absolute risk?

My friend AnneMarie, over at Chemobrainfog, wrote:

One in eight is a good springboard for a fundraising campaign.  It makes for a great way to terrorize those who do not understand that the number applies across your entire lifetime and it increases with age.  As you are seated around your table with eight family members of different generations or eight close friends, don’t try to figure out who, unless you also incorporate WHEN into the equation.

There are certain factors that increase your risk of developing breast cancer, and I fell in several of those categories: family history, dense breast tissue, certain benign (not cancer) breast problems and not having children (and related to that, not breastfeeding).  No doubt that these factors definitely increased my risk more than the 0.4 percent figure stated above.    Plus, now that I’ve had breast cancer, I’m also at an increased risk for developing breast cancer again.  Since treatment ended, I have made changes to my lifestyle, such as running and not drinking alcohol, among others, to minimize my risk because I never ever want to go through that again.

Cancer can often feel like a numbers game, although many doctors and specialists in the field will emphasize that you are an individual, not a stat.  When you fall on the bad side of these statistics, these numbers almost seem cruel.  I had less than one percent chance of going into anaphylaxis during chemo, yet that happened to me.  Cancer is definitely not something I ever wanted to be unique at.

I truly believe it’s important for us to know our risks and what we can do to minimize our risks for developing breast cancer.   First, we need to fight through the Pink Ribbon rhetoric seemingly designed to scare the general public with statistics without little or no context.