National Cancer Institute   U.S. National Institutes of Health | www.cancer.gov
US National Institute of Health www.cancer.gov
BCSC
Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium: Working together to advance breast cancer research
 
Home   |   Data & Statistics   |   Collaborations   |   Work with Us   |   Publications   |   About   |   Links

Publication Abstract

Authors: Peacock SL, White E, Daling JR, Voigt LF, Malone KE

Title: Relation between obesity and breast cancer in young women.

Journal: Am J Epidemiol 149(4):339-46

Date: 1999 Feb 15

Abstract: This study was conducted to assess the relation between body size and risk of breast cancer among young women. A case-control study was conducted among women aged 21-45 years living in three counties in Washington State. Cases were women born after 1944 with invasive or in situ breast cancer that was diagnosed between January 1, 1983, and April 30, 1990. Controls were selected using random digit dialing and were frequency-matched to cases on the basis of age and county of residence. Interviews took place between 1986 and 1992. Body size was evaluated using indices from several different time periods. After adjustment for confounders, a decreased risk of breast cancer was found for women in the highest quintile of body mass index (weight (kg)/height (m)2) as compared with the lowest quintile (for maximum lifetime body mass index, odds ratio = 0.69, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.51-0.94). Age modified the relation between body size and risk of breast cancer. The odds ratio for women in the highest quintile of maximum body mass index who were aged 21-35 years was 0.29 (95% CI 0.16-0.55), as compared with an odds ratio of 1.5 for women aged 36-45 years (95% CI 0.9-2.5) (p for interaction = 0.003). This study supports prior research showing a decreased risk of breast cancer associated with increased body size among premenopausal or young women. More detailed analysis in this study found a strong effect that was limited to the youngest age group (< or = 35 years).


National Cancer Institute Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health USA.gov: The US government's official web portal Maintained by the Applied Research Program,
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences