Familial breast cancer: classification, care and managing breast cancer and related risks in people with a family history of breast cancer

Next steps – referral for estimating breast cancer risk

After referral, your risk of breast cancer will be estimated. Breast cancer risk is estimated using risk factors for breast cancer, questionnaires to collect family history of cancer and computer programs that estimate risk. For more information on this see the sections called risk factors for breast cancer and first steps – finding out about your family history.

As shown in the section called how breast cancer risk is described, risk is divided into 3 groups: general population risk, moderate risk and high risk.

It's important to remember that most women do not get breast cancer. Even if you have a moderate or high risk, it does not mean that you will develop breast cancer.