One can read that one woman in II in France and one in nine in the USA
will get breast cancer. This high risk is the result of the irrealist
ic assumption that all women remain exposed to the risk of breast canc
er until age 90, and ignores the risk of death before that age. It is
possible to allow for the occurrence of death before age 90. We descri
be the method, and find a risk of getting breast cancer before age 90
of one in 14 in France. The estimation of the risk of breast cancer ov
er limited periods of life may also be useful. We describe how these e
stimates can be obtained, and present some results. For instance the r
isk of breast cancer between age 50 and 69 is one in 29, and the risk
between 50 and 79 is one in 19.