Breast cancer awareness is year-round
Every October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month reminds us that early detection saves lives. About 1 in 8 women* will develop breast cancer during their lifetime1, but knowing your personal risk can help find it earlier, when it’s most treatable.
What affects your risk for breast cancer?
Breast cancer risk is affected by many things, including your genes, personal and family medical history, and other health factors like age, weight, hormones, and reproductive history. Because everyone’s risk is different, the American Society of Breast Surgeons recommends that every woman aged 25 or older have a breast cancer risk assessment2.
For women 30 and older, this usually includes a risk estimation tool such as the Tyrer–Cuzick model, which considers factors like age, reproductive history, and hormone use to estimate someone’s risk of developing breast cancer over their lifetime.
If you have a strong family or personal history of breast cancer, your doctor may also recommend diagnostic genetic testing, which looks for certain genetic changes, like BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants, that greatly raise breast cancer risk. However, only 5-10% of breast cancers are caused by these inherited genetic changes3.
Many women who qualify for but test negative on diagnostic genetic tests that screen only for specific inherited variants may still carry variants that each have a small impact on risk, but can add up to meaningfully increase breast cancer risk. Moreover, even women at average risk (i.e., without a high clinical risk or strong family history) who aren't recommended diagnostic genetic testing, may have hidden genetic influences that raise their likelihood of developing breast cancer. It’s important that these women are also taken into account.
MyOme offers a more complete picture of risk
At MyOme, we believe everyone deserves to understand their full breast cancer risk regardless of clinical factors or family history. We offer two test options that each offer unique information regarding your genetics in the context of breast cancer risk:
1. Testing for inherited (single-gene) causes
Some breast cancers are caused by a single genetic change in genes such as BRCA1, BRCA2, and others. These changes are uncommon but can greatly raise a person’s risk.
Because not everyone knows their family history and there are sometimes no clear signs of inherited cancer risk in families, MyOme includes screening for these important genetic variants for people considered average risk through our Proactive Health Single Gene Risk Test. Of note, this test screens for genetic variants associated with other adult-onset health conditions, including other cancers and cardiovascular diseases.
2. Understanding your overall risk of breast cancer
Most breast cancers are not caused by a single gene. Instead, many small genetic changes, together with lifestyle and health factors, affect a person’s risk.
The MyOme Proactive Health Integrated Polygenic Risk Score (iPRS) for Breast Cancer adds up these smaller genetic effects and combines them with other available clinical information, such as age, weight, family history, and lifestyle factors, to estimate overall risk. This test provides a fuller picture of your risk than clinical measurements alone and detects hidden breast cancer risks not detected by other diagnostic tests.
By combining both kinds of information — inherited single-gene causes and broader genetic and clinical factors — MyOme's approach to breast cancer risk screening gives a more complete and personal view of breast cancer risk. MyOme results can help find people whose genetic risks may be missed by clinical risk assessments alone, so that their care can be better tailored to them.
Why knowing your risk matters
Knowing your risk helps you and your doctor make choices about care. If you have an elevated risk, your doctor may suggest starting mammograms earlier, adding MRIs to routine screening, or making lifestyle changes that can lower risk.
Early detection starts with knowing where you stand. This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, take time to learn more about your personal risk and how genetic testing can help you make informed choices about your health.
To learn more about steps to lower breast cancer risk, visit the CDC’s prevention resources.
*MyOme recognizes and respects the diversity of gender identities. In this guide, “women” is used to refer to sex assigned at birth.
References
- American Cancer Society. Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2024–2025. American Cancer Society; 2025. Accessed October 23, 2025. https://www.cancer.org/
- The American Society of Breast Surgeons. Position Statement on Screening Mammography. Published 2019. Accessed October 23, 2025. https://www.breastsurgeons.org/docs/statements/Position-Statement-on-Screening-Mammography.pdf
- Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Other Breast Cancer Gene Mutations. Accessed October 23, 2025. https://www.bcrf.org/about-breast-cancer/other-breast-cancer-gene-mutations