Age is the single most important factor in influencing breast cancer risk - the older a woman is the higher her risk of developing breast cancer, 80 per cent of all breast cancers occur in post-menopausal women (based on the average age of menopause being 50).

Family history - women with a hereditary genetic susceptibility account for between five and 10 per cent of all breast cancer cases. They tend to have a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer and these cancers usually occur in close family members, such as their grandmother, mother, aunt or sister, at an early age.

Not having children - women who do not have children are 10 to 30 per cent more likely to develop the disease. Hormones play an important role in the development of breast cancer, so having children decreases the risk of breast cancer.

A late first pregnancy - a woman who has her first child in her thirties is 63 per cent more likely to develop breast cancer before the menopause and 35 per cent more likely to develop the disease afterwards than a woman who has her first child at 22.

Starting your periods early - a woman whose periods began at the age of 15 is at only two thirds the risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer of someone whose periods started at 11, with a decrease of seven per cent for each year that periods were delayed.

A late menopause - women who start their menopause after the age of 55 are twice as likely to develop the disease as those who experience the menopause before the age of 45.
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Source: Breast Cancer Campaign