Cancer Archive

Talk to your doctor to nail down your cancer risk, and check this list to see which tests may help save your life.

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Recommendations for cancer screenings sometimes change, and it can be confusing about which tests you need and when. "It's best to talk to your doctor about your cancer risk factors and family history, learn which screenings are right for you, and then develop and stick to a screening schedule," says Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Routine screenings

There's no one big way to reduce your risk for breast cancer, but a combination of approaches could make a difference.

In recent years the statistical picture of breast cancer has brightened, thanks to early detection and advances in treatment. More tumors are being caught at an early stage; the rise in incidence of the disease has slowed; and the death rate has dropped. Nevertheless, breast cancer is still the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and the second most likely (after lung cancer) to take their lives.

Data aside, breast cancer looms large in our health concerns because most of us know it personally. Some of us have had the disease ourselves, and others have experienced it through friends or relatives. Particularly unsettling is its seeming randomness: Nothing seems to explain why one woman develops breast cancer and another doesn't. Granted, family history and certain gene mutations can substantially increase risk. But such factors aren't involved in most breast cancers. Moreover, we can't do much about them, or about many of the other risks associated with the disease, including older age (the 10-year risk of developing breast cancer jumps from 1 in 48 at age 40 to 1 in 26 at age 60), early menarche (first menstrual period), having no children (or bearing the first at a later age), and late menopause.

Don't be intimidated about screening tests. The latest guidelines suggest you can choose from multiple strategies.

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Colon cancer continues to be the country's second leading cause of cancer-related deaths and the third most common cancer in men, according to the CDC.

It almost always develops from precancerous polyps (abnormal growths). Screening tests, which are recommended for men ages 50 to 75, help find and sometimes aid removal of polyps before they become cancer. (Men older than 75 may still benefit, depending on their health.)

People who develop asthma as adults may have a higher risk of developing heart disease than those without asthma. Adult-onset asthma is often triggered by air pollution and tends to be harder to control than asthma that starts during childhood.