Objective:

Although there are a lot of risk factors in development of breast cancer in some studies, in which effectiveness of these factors are researched, some controversial outcomes can be seen. The aim of this study is to interrogate presence of some risk factors which are thought to be related with breast cancer.

Material and Methods:

This research is performed as a cross-sectional case control study between December 2009 and May 2010 to interrogate the risk factors which are thought to be related with breast cancer. 70 patients with breast cancer and 140 control patients (with other problems than breast diseases) who refer to the general surgery clinics are involved in this study (210 patients totally). Including the already known risk factors in breast cancer the variabilities such as diet, presence of base station close to the living place, use of deodorants, the daily cell phone usage time and stress were interrogated in questionnaires.

Results:

The mean ages of the patients were 47.99 (ages of 18-85) in breast cancer group and 52.37 (ages of 31-83) in control group. There wasn’t any statistically significant difference in demographic findings in both groups. The mean number of children owned was 2.48 in breast cancer group and 3.26 in control group. A negative correlation was found between the number of children owned and the breast cancer (p<0.005). The breast cancer rate was found to be lower as the number of children increased. Curettage rate was higher in breast cancer group (43.5%) compared to the control group (33.6%) which was statistically significant. Stress level in daily life was found to be much more higher in breast cancer group (55.7%) than the control group (38.4%) and this finding was also statistically significant (p<0.005).

Conclusion:

Among the risk factors which are thought to be related with breast cancer only the level of stress in daily life was found to have meaningful relationship. The incidence of breast cancer decreased as the number of children increases.

Keywords: Breast cancer, risk factors, environmental risk factors