Survivors' cancer risk lower than thought - study

The research was led by the University of Oxford's population health department

Women who have had early breast cancer have a lower risk of developing a second cancer than previously thought, a new study has found.

The research was led by the University of Oxford's Population Health department, and was recently published in the British Medical Journal.

It found that 20 years after an original breast cancer diagnosis women were 2% more likely than the general population to develop a second cancer - a much lower figure than previously thought.

Dr David Dodwell said the findings could "reassure" women diagnosed with breast cancer and "help them to plan their future".

"Our study confirms that the risks of new cancers are higher for breast cancer survivors than for other women in the general population," Dr Dodwell, a senior clinical research fellow at Oxford Population Health, said.

"However, these additional risks are small in comparison to the risks of recurrence and breast cancer death in the great majority of women diagnosed with early invasive breast cancer."

In compiling the study, researchers analysed data recorded in England's national cancer registry for women diagnosed with early invasive breast cancer, to determine whether any of them had been diagnosed with a second cancer.

Researchers found that 13.6% of the women studied developed a second primary non-breast cancer - a figure only marginally higher than the general population.

Caroline Geraghty, from Cancer Research UK, said: "This research should provide some reassurance to women who have had early invasive breast cancer.

"We've known for a while that having breast cancer increases a person's chance of developing a different, unrelated cancer but until now we haven't known how much higher this chance was.

"These findings, that the risk is only marginally higher, are very promising."