Having a higher body mass index (BMI) at a younger age is associated with a decreased risk of developing breast cancer before the menopause, major new research funded by Breast Cancer Now and other collaborators has found.

Exposure to light at night while sleeping does not increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer, a major prospective study funded by charity Breast Cancer Now suggests.

A major new prospective study funded by Breast Cancer Now has found that smoking is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, particularly among those who began smoking during adolescence and those with a family history of the disease.

Scientists funded by Breast Cancer Now and Cancer Research UK have demonstrated a more accurate method to assess a woman’s familial risk of breast cancer, which could one day be added to existing models to help better predict an individual’s overall risk of breast cancer.

The effect of combined hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in increasing a woman’s risk of breast cancer is likely to have been underestimated by a number of previous studies, according to a new prospective study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Day-to-day psychological stress and adverse life events are unlikely to increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer, according to a major new prospective study.

A worldwide study of the DNA of 100,000 women has discovered two new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. 

Around two per cent of women with primary ovarian insufficiency – the medical term for a permanent halt in menstruation occurring naturally before the age of 40 – are affected by changes to a particular gene, a study has shown.

The roots of the modern-day study of cancer risk lie all the way back in the nineteenth century at a nunnery in Italy.

Scientists have discovered 49 new common genetic changes which can lead to the development of breast cancer, more than doubling the number previously known.