Nursing- breast cancer - Essay Example

Table 1 represent estimated breast cancer cases and deaths worldwide (see appendix). About three fourths of all women with cancer cases will be diagnosed invasive breast cancer (Stages I-IV). The chance of developing invasive breast cancer during a womans lifetime is approximately 1 in 7 (13.4%). Another one fourth will be diagnosed with in situ breast cancer, a very early form of the disease. Though much less common, breast cancer also occurs in men /National Breast Cancer Centre, 2005/. The incidence rate of breast cancer (number of new breast cancers per 100,000 women) increased by approximately 4% during the 1980s but levelled off a bit in the 1990s /National Breast Cancer Centre, 2005/.

The death rates from breast cancer also declined significantly between 1992 and 1996, with the largest decreases among younger women. Medical experts impute the decline in breast cancer deaths to earlier detection and more efficient treatments. Let’s investigate and sum up the causes of breast cancer. Although, there are a number of researches devoted to the causes of this severe disease and the ways of reducing its chances, it’s obvious that we still can’t prevent it. However, these researches worked out the list of factors that affect our health and may cause the development of the breast cancer.

All these factors belong either to “external” or “internal” environments /Breast Health, 2006/. “Internal environment” includes a number of things inside our bodies that influence our health, for example, genetics, hormones, illnesses, and feelings and thoughts. “External environment” relates to the things of the outer world that influence people’s health, such as air, water, food, danger, noise, people, and stress. Some of the above mentioned factors, such as genetic makeup and the medicines taken, have a very direct effect on the breast health.

The impact of other, indirect factors, such as