Weight, social ties and other factors that increase your risk of breast cancer relapse
Find out which factors can raise your risk of cancer recurrence, plus how to lower your risk when possible.
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Breast cancer affects both men and women; in 2017, more than 250,000 and 2,000 new cases in women and men were expected, respectively. If you or your loved one was diagnosed with breast cancer, you may have experienced a long and difficult pathway through rounds of testing and different types of therapies.
The disease can be brought into remission—when signs or symptoms decrease or disappear—if caught early enough and if it responds well to treatment. There are two types of remission—partial and complete remission. With partial remission some signs and symptoms disappear; with complete remission, all signs disappear but the cancer can remain in the body.
If cancer goes into remission, you might be eager to get back to your usual life and move past the cancer. But, unfortunately, in any cancer, there is always a risk the disease can return.
Some factors like skipping follow-up treatment may contribute to breast cancer recurrence. Here are the factors that can increase your chances of breast cancer recurrence, plus tips to lower your recurrence risk when possible.