Diagnosing breast cancer early is just one of the many challenges presented by this disease – and other forms of cancer. But now scientists believe they have found a way to use a person’s family history to better predict their risk of developing breast cancer.

Familial history is an important risk factor in approximately ten per cent of breast cancer cases, and being able to use this information more accurately could lead to less stress for the women involved as well as more accurate predictions.

Researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research have developed a more accurate method of assessing this risk, which includes looking at the number of relatives in someone’s family diagnosed with the disease, their age at the time of diagnosis and the type of relative they are.

Using this information alongside existing models can better predict someone’s risk of developing breast cancer, they revealed.

Rather than putting people into a category of risk, the new system provides a score on a continuum, which is a more precise risk figure.

The research has been carried out as part of the Breast Cancer Now Generations Study, which is exploring the genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors that can contribute to a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

More than 113,000 women in the UK are being followed for 40 years as part of the study, which began in 2004, and has already identified over 90 common genetic challenges that are associated with the development of breast cancer.

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