Body Size and Risk of Breast Cancer

• Published in: American journal of epidemiology 1997-06, Vol.145 (11), p.1011-1019
• Main Authors: Trentham-Dietz, Amy, Newcomb, Poliy A., Storer, Barony E., Longnecker, Matthew P., Baron, John, Greenberg, E. Robert, Willett, Walter C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Analysis. Health state; Biological and medical sciences; Body Constitution; body height; body weight; breast neoplasms; Breast Neoplasms - etiology; Case-Control Studies; Epidemiology; Female; General aspects; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Logistic Models; Maine; Mammary gland diseases; Massachusetts; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; New Hampshire; Odds Ratio; Population Surveillance; Postmenopause; Premenopause; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Risk; Risk Factors; Tumors; weight gain; Wisconsin
• ISSN: 0002-9262; 1476-6256
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009057

The relation between body size and breast cancer remains uncertain, particularly with regard to differences between pre- and postmenopausal women. The authors examined whether height, weight, body mass index, and weight change were associated with breast cancer risk among pre- and postmenopausal women. This population-based case-control study included women aged 20–74 years (n = 6,548) who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during 1988–1991 in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin. Similarly aged control women (n = 9,057) were selected at random from driver's license files and Heaith Care Financing Administration files. Height, weight, and information on other breast cancer risk factors were ascertained by telephone interview, and logistic regression was used to estimate murtivariate-adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Among premenopausal women, the adjusted odds ratio for the upper quintile group of height relative to the lowest was 1.36 (95% confidence interval (Cl) 1.05–1.76). The heaviest premenopausal women had a lower risk (odds ratio (OR) = 0.87, 95% CI 0.70–1.10). Among postmenopausai women, the adjusted odds ratios were higher for the upper quintile categories of both height (OR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.11–1.45) and weight (OR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.37–1.79). Weight gain since ages 18 and 35 years was associated with increased postmenopausai breast cancer risk, and risk was lower in women wtio had lost weight. These findings suggest that programs to avoid weight gain merit study as a means to reduce risk of postmenopausai breast cancer. Am J Epidemiol 1997; 145: 1011 –19.