Detecting risks for the development of cancers nowadays need not be expensive or too techy. A recent study published in the journal BMJ revealed that an increase in one's skirt size over a 10-year window between the ages of mid 20s and mid 50s is linked to a 33% greater risk of developing breast cancer after menopause.

The study, titled "Association of Skirt Size and Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Risk in Older Women: A Cohort Study within the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening" observed postmenopausal-women older than 50 years who have no history of breast cancer before or on the day of completing a "study-entry questionnaire."

The questionnaire was completed by 92,834 participants from Jan. 2, 2005 to July 1, 2010. After the median follow-up of about 3.19 years, 1,090 women developed breast cancer.

The study is one of a kind - it is the first to identify the association of central obesity using skirt size (SS) and breast cancer risk. Specifically, between 25 years and postmenopausal age, the increase in SS by one unit every decade translated to increased risk; a decrease in SS meant lowered risk.

Obesity is generally known to be a risk factor to many types of cancers.

Their final tally accounted factors such as family history of breast and ovarian cancer, pregnancy, smoking and drinking patterns and adherence to hormone replacement therapy.

Today quoted Dr. Usha Menon, head of the Gynaecological Cancer Research Center at University College London and she said, "We were pleased to find an association between skirt size change, which is easy to recall, and breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women."

Yet Dr. Menon added that there is still a need to understand the mechanism between increased abdominal fat and breast cancer risk better.

Symptoms of breast cancer include the following, according to WebMD: lump in the breast or underarm that persists after menstrual cycle, pain or tenderness in the breast, change in the size, contour, texture, or temperature of the breast and unusual discharges, among others.

Meanwhile, BBC reported that the study's findings may be unreliable, according to Tom Stansfeld of Cancer Research UK. Stansfeld pointed out that dress sizes have changed throughout the years. He added that the study relied on the women's memory of their skirt sizes decades earlier. He explained, "Keeping a healthy weight is important to help reduce breast cancer risk after the menopause, and looking at skirt sizes to help women understand this is interesting, but knowing if you're overweight is more important."