Menopause is a normal process that affects all women. It commonly occurs around age 50 and after menopause, your risk of developing breast cancer rises significantly. At age 40 your risk is 1 in 1,200, and after age 50, 1 in 550 women will get breast cancer. If you are post-menopausal you need to be especially diligent about having regular mammograms. If you have a family history of breast cancer occurring before menopause your own risk of breast cancer increases by 4 times.
Osteoporosis isn't a risk factor for breast cancer, but hormone therapy with estrogen to treat osteoporosis may affect your risk of breast cancer or affect how quickly breast cancer spreads. For some younger women, an after-effect of chemotherapy treatment is a discontinuation of monthly periods causing menopause to start earlier than expected. This early menopause puts you at a greater risk for osteoporosis.
Like breast cancer, ovarian cancer can run in families. The genes responsible for hereditary breast cancer are also the ones that increase your risk for ovarian cancer . Other risk factors for ovarian cancer include few or no pregnancies, early onset of menstruation or late onset of menopause. For hormone-sensitive breast cancers, some women opt for removal of their ovaries - putting them into menopause and thus making them at higher risk for osteoporosis.
Although many of these relationships have a genetic component that you can't control, if you have these risk factors, you may want to reduce the risk factors you can control. Knowing your risk of developing these conditions is the first step in minimizing your overall risk.