AURORA, Colo. — Data collected from UCHealth researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus show breast cancer rates are increasing among younger women. That's why doctors are urging women who may be at high risk to schedule a screening.
Boulder County resident Sandy Nielsen wishes she'd done that sooner. Nielsen went for a routine checkup at a UCHealth campus up north. She said all went well but her doctor still advised her to get an MRI since she was at higher risk for breast cancer.
She put it off for months.
"I kept getting reminders in the mail to schedule this procedure, so I did that in January of this year," she said. "So that was followed up with a biopsy and really a day later I received a push notification on my app that said you have cancer."
It wasn't just any cancer. It was similar to the kind her mother had 20 years ago.
"Almost identical," she said. "It was just like 'shoot, I was not expecting it. It isn't supposed to happen now.'"
New research from doctors with UCHealth shows the age of a breast cancer diagnosis is becoming younger.
Dr. Virginia Borges is the director of the University of Colorado Breast Cancer Research Program. Her research shows if a woman is diagnosed in the first five to 10 years after pregnancy, the prognosis is often poor.
"They have an increased risk that that’s going to metastasize and that they could die of their breast cancer," Borges said.
According to Borges, having children later or not having any at all can also increase a person's risk.
"When you look at women who either have not had a child, and are young at the time of their diagnosis, or they got a very young start in having their children, they have a risk who is more similar to women who are 45 to 64 years in getting diagnosed with breast cancer," she said.
"It’s the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the United States and, honestly, in women 45 and under not only is it the most common cancer, it’s more common than the next four combined."
While cancer diagnosis numbers are trending upward, Borges hopes it does not deter women from becoming mothers. She believes medical advancements from drugs to treatment plans will keep people alive longer.
Nielsen believes that as well, but hopes people learn something from her story: don't put off a suggested cancer screening.
"Really heed your provider's advice," she said. "If they recommend a screening, imaging, a screening MRI, to go ahead and do that. You may not think it’s time sensitive, but in my case had I not done it, who knows how long it would have taken for it to show up on a mammogram. It could have been six months from now or five years, and that does give the cancer an opportunity to spread."
Doctors recommend women speak to their relatives, if possible, to learn of any history of breast cancer. If someone is diagnosed with breast cancer, Borges suggests they be open to working with any clinical trials the hospital might have. The data collected in those trials could potentially save a life.