Assessing the risk of breast cancer.

Each year in the United States, breast cancer is diagnosed in more than 170,000 women.1 Despite this substantial burden of disease, however, assessment of breast-cancer risk has received very little attention outside the oncology clinic.2,3 In primary care, the main result of the recognition of individual variation in breast-cancer risk is the use of age to determine recommendations regarding mammography (older age is a strong risk factor for breast cancer).4 Recent developments in the ability to predict and alter breast-cancer risk warrant a new look at the role of assessment of this risk in primary care. Physicians must become . . .