Lesbians at a Higher Risk of Developing Breast Cancer
Jen sent me this article about a study conducted by Stephanie Roberts, M.D., medical director at Lyon-Martin Women’s Health Services in San Francisco, and Sue Dibble, RN, an adjunct professor at the University of California, San Francisco, which found that gay women reported having had more breast biopsies, “which are a serious risk factor for the development of breast cancer,” than straight women. The study also found that “lesbians had had fewer pregnancies–a risk factor for cancer because it means that they go through more menstrual cycles and thus are exposed to more estrogen over their lifetime than women who have children.”
The article was published back in 1999, but it’s never too late to share health care information.
I’m wondering how I never heard of that before about biopsies or that lesbians have more of them. Seeing that article earlier was my first time! Thanks for posting this, Maria. Does anyone know if anyone has followed up with this research or contradicted it?
I’ve never heard about lesbians having more biopsies either, and I just recently realized that I’m at a higher risk of getting breast cancer when I saw the “Have you had any children?” question on a form I filled out before my last breast sonogram. Since I don’t want to give birth (I will adopt if I decide to become a mother), I’ll always be checking off the high risk “no” box to that one.
I keep trying to get my wife to get in and get her mammogram done. It’s been a couple of years since her last one (it’s been more than a year since my last one, but I’m not nearly at the risk level that she is). I think she doesn’t want to do it because it reminds her too much of losing her last partner to breast cancer. What a terrible disease.