This year an estimated 178,480 U.S. women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, and 40,460 will die from the disease. Only lung cancer accounts for more cancer deaths in U.S. women. Though there are some things women can do to decrease their risk-- such as breastfeeding, exercising regularly and not drinking more than two alcoholic beverages a day—other factors, like getting periods before age 12, having a family history of breast cancer or simply being old, are beyond their control. Still, these “markers” help doctors know who to watch more carefully.

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A study published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Human Biology suggests a new marker: having a mom with wide, round hips. This is a sign of high estrogen concentrations, say researchers at Oregon Health & Science University and England’s University of Southampton, and when female babies are exposed to this estrogen in the womb, they develop an increased vulnerability to breast cancer later in life. Researchers looked at 6,370 women born in Helsinki, Finland between 1934 and 1944 because their mothers' pelvic bones were measured during routine prenatal care. They found that breast cancer rates were more than three times higher in women with wide-hipped mothers.