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Knowing what factors can increase or decrease your risk for breast cancer is important. But you probably want to know just HOW MUCH those factors change your risk.
If you hear that a certain treatment can reduce your risk by 40%, what does that mean?
To understand what the numbers mean about YOUR risk for breast cancer, the key terms to know are relative risk and absolute risk.
Relative risk is the number that tells you how much something you do, such as taking a pill, can change your risk compared to your risk without taking that pill. Relative risk can be expressed in percentages and in "hazard ratios." If you do nothing new, your hazard ratio is 1.0 — this means that your risk doesn't change. If you do something and your risk decreases by half, or goes down to 0.5, then you are half as likely to have the risk. But if your risk goes up, from 1.0 to 1.88, then you are 88% more likely to encounter the risk. If your risk goes up to 3.0, then you have a threefold (300%) increased risk of having the problem.
Absolute risk is the size of your own risk. Absolute risk reduction is the number of percentage points by which your own risk changes if you do something, like taking a pill. The size of your absolute risk reduction depends on what your risk is to begin with.