About the Study
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women younger than 50 years of age.
Though we have some understanding of why some women develop breast cancer and others do not, we have a lot more to learn about breast cancer prevention. The goal of the Young Women’s Health History Study is to find ways to reduce the risk of breast cancer in young women.
From 2010 to 2016, our recruitment teams enrolled nearly 4,000 women residing in Metropolitan Detroit, MI and Los Angeles County, CA into the Young Women’s Health History Study. Our interviewers met with these participants and asked them to provide information about their health and their life stories. Our analytic team is now using the information these women gave us to better understand risk factors for breast cancer. Our first paper describing the study was published in the journal “Cancer Causes and Control.”
The study team includes researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Medical College of Wisconsin, Michigan State University, University of Southern California, Wayne State University/Karmanos Cancer Institute and Westat, a research firm.
An advisory committee including breast cancer advocates, as well as scientific advisors from the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, and Boston University are also guiding the study.
This collaborative study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.