Women diagnosed with breast cancer are 39 percent more likely to develop another form of cancer. This can be due to similar risk factors or the side effects of treating breast cancer.

Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer among women, irrespective of race and ethnicity. A new study found that women diagnosed with breast cancer are 39 percent more likely to develop another form of cancer.

Researchers from the Granada Cancer Register found that women under the age of 50 who previously suffered from breast cancer were almost 96 percent more likely to develop a second cancer than the general population.  Women over the age of 50 with previous records of breast cancer were 29 percent more likely to develop another form of cancer. The risk of developing an endometrial cancer was three times higher among older women if breast cancer had been previously diagnosed.

Younger women who had breast tumors were also five times more likely to develop a second ovarian cancer compared to the general population. Both young and older women were found to be at greater risk of later developing a non-melanoma skin cancer.

For the study, researchers examined a total of 5,897 cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed between 1985 and 2007 in women from Granada. In 314 cases, the women developed a second primary cancer. During the course of the same study, researchers further examined 22,814 other cases of cancer affecting all parts of the body except the breast, all of which were diagnosed in the same period and all as part of the same study population. Of these women, 171 developed a second cancer, this time of the breast.

María José Sánchez, co-author of the study and director of the Granada Cancer Register clarified that the risk of developing a second cancer was high in the first five years following the first diagnosis of breast cancer. The risk of developing a second cancer during this period was almost 3.5 times higher than that faced by women without breast cancer.