New breast cancer risk calculator

Most of us use the Gail model when counseling a patient about their risk of breast cancer. But that model is flawed, as it is based off of non-Hispanic white females. But, now there is a new risk calculator for breast cancer in Asian American women. This new model, called the AABCS (Asian American Breast Cancer Study) model, is necessary because prior work to improve the Gail model has focused on African American females, but never Asian American females. This new calculator is based off of the Asian American Breast Cancer Study, as well as SEER. This model includes clinical factors which we are very familiar with, including age at menarche, age at first live birth, breast biopsy results, and number of first degree female relatives with breast cancer. Importantly, it may overestimate risk for Asian American women who recently immigrated to the US from countries where rates of breast cancer are lower. The researchers should be commended for improving our accuracy in counseling various women about their risk for breast cancer.