October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Breast cancer is the second-most common cancer for women here in the United States.

And it’s also why it’s now recommended that all women get a breast cancer risk assessment when they turn 25, especially those with a family history of the disease.

“Breast cancer screening should be highly individualized, just like all medical care should,” said Dr. Erica Peters of the Cleveland Clinic. “So there’s a few different things you look at. What age are you when we’re looking at this information? If you have a family history of breast cancer, what was the age of the youngest person diagnosed? And then sort of what is the number that we calculate for your overall risk.”

The average woman with no family history of breast cancer or other risks should be getting mammograms at about the age of 40. However, if a woman is at higher risk and depending on their age, they may have to start up to 10 years earlier.

Dr. Peters said for anybody younger than 30 they will typically decide on a case-by-case basis if that’s right for them.

A new study by the American Cancer Society says since 2021 rates for breast cancer have increased about 1.4% per year in women 50 and younger.

Dr. Sonya Reed, a breast medical oncologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said it’s likely due to what she calls modifiable risk factors like environmental exposures, food, air water and even rising rates of obesity.

The report found that breast cancer mortality rate is actually down 44% since the late 1980s.