Study: Current Models Overestimate Ashkenazi Breast Cancer Risk

IN FILE - College students hold umbrellas to make a formation of pink ribbon during a breast cancer awareness campaign in Chennai on October 31, 2022. The likelihood of breast cancer in Ashkenazi Jewish women is overstated by current predictive algorithms. A polygenic risk score, which is a key element of breast cancer predictive models, needs to be calibrated for various ethnic groups. ARUN SANKAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Existing predictive models overstate the risks for Ashkenazi Jewish women of developing breast cancer. That’s according to a paper led by University of Manchester researchers, to be published next month in the journal Genetics in Medicine.

A major component of breast cancer predictive models is something called a polygenic risk score, but these scores require calibration for different ethnicities.