Women with a family history of breast cancer who subsequently develop the disease, have the same prognosis as other women with the disease who have no family history, a new study has found.

According to UK researchers, these findings should offer hope to women who are concerned about their future due to having a family history of breast cancer.

Around one in four cases of the disease is thought to be linked to hereditary factors, so the researchers set out to assess whether the prognosis is different for women with a family history compared to those with no history.

They looked at almost 2,900 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. All were monitored over a 15-year period.

The study found that when it came to cancer recurrence rates, there was no significant difference between women with a family history of the disease and those without.

In other words, the cancer was no more likely to return in women with a family history.

"Successful treatment for breast cancer is just as likely in young patients with a family history of breast cancer, as in those without a family history. Patients with a family history of breast cancer can therefore be reassured that their family history alone does not mean that their outcome will be worse," commented lead researcher, Mr Ramsey Cutress, an associate professor in breast surgery at the University of Southampton.

Details of these findings are published in the British Journal of Surgery.