Relative Risk

I’m not really sure what to say about this – but it is something my mind keeps pondering during this breast cancer awareness month.

There is a risk factor in the literature that cannot be ignored that no one seems to know how discuss. This would be the increased risk in women who have not had a child by age 30. I think a lot of us read over that and try to ignore that it’s there because 1.) It’s annoying, 2.) Who needs another reason to think about all the “what ifs” & insecurities it brings up?, and 3.) We’ve already got to deal with that increased risk of developmental disorders when having children at age 35 and older – why throw something else on top of it?

However, I could not ignore the Relative Risk value in the chart before me during our special breast cancer lecture; nor could the presenter, an extremely accomplished older female physician. So, she said “To the dismay of all the career women, here is the increased risk from having children after 30.” And then later, she placed it in a special category titled “Potentially Modifiable Risk Factors” and verified that women may or may not have control over when they have children.

I’m not sure why I have such an unsettled feeling about this. Perhaps because in this day and age when women are trying to figure out the modern world, getting judged a little bit less for pursuing personal life goals, but still wanting to be fully a woman and find balance in family and work – here is science coming out to judge us and get in our way. Not old-school folks saying we should be in the kitchen, but basic epidemiology taking on the voice of your mother and asking why you haven’t produced grandkids yet. Aaargh. I’m gonna cling to the scientific fact that relative risk is indeed relative.