Definitions for "Lifetime Risk"
The probability of developing cancer in the course of one's lifespan. Lifetime risk may also be discussed in terms of the probability of developing or of dying from cancer Based on cancer rates from 2001 to 2003, it was estimated that men had about a 45 percent chance of developing cancer in their lifetimes, while women had about a 38 percent chance
Probability that a person, over the course of a lifetime, will develop cancer.
Lifetime risk is vastly different than age-specific risk. Meaning that between the ages of 30 to 40, for instance, your risk of developing breast cancer is 1 in 252 (or 0.3%). Because breast cancer risk becomes greater as women age, the 1 in 8 figure simply says that a woman born today has that chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer sometime during her life. For more information on lifetime risk for breast cancer, read "Why you Shouldn't Be a Breast Phobic."