Body mass index and post-menopausal breast cancer: an age-specific analysis

Abstract

Summary The relationship between body mass index (BMI, Quetelet's index, kg m-2) and post-menopausal breast cancer risk was considered in age-specific strata on the basis of a pooled analysis of three Italian case-control studies, including a total of 3108 postmenopausal breast cancer patients aged 50 years or over and 2664 control subjects. Overall, there was a moderate, but significant, association between BMI and post-menopausal breast cancer: the odds ratios (ORs) were around 1.3 for the three intermediate quintiles compared with the lowest one, and 1.4 for the highest one. The association was moderate among women aged 50-59 years and 60-69 years, with ORs around 1.3 for the highest BMI quintiles, but stronger among elderly women, with ORs of 1.6 for the fourth and 2.1 for the fifth quintile. An 8-unit increase in BMI involved an OR of 1.18 at age 50-59 years, of 1.14 at age 60-69 years and of 1.59 above age 70 years. This pattern of risk is similar to that observed for post-menopausal hormone replacement treatment and is consistent with a duration-risk relationship in the exposure to high oestrogen levels and with a greater differential in oestrogen levels in overweight elderly women. In terms of population attributable risk, 19.6% of all post-menopausal breast cancer patients and 27.1% of those in women above age 70 years were attributable to overweight and obesity in this population. This has, therefore, major preventive implications as to reduce breast cancer risk late in life, it is essentially important to control weight gain in elderly women.

Pathological Profile of Patients with Breast Diseases in Shiraz

“…in different societies. According to the current study results, ductal carcinoma was the most prevalent malignancy during menopause, which is in agreement with the results of the previous studies (Ballard-Barbash, 1994;Franceschi et al, 1996;La Vecchia et al, 1997;Hussain et al, 2005;Aslam et al, 2013). Moreover, the total number of malignant masses was higher among the menopausal women compared to those in the reproductive ages, which is similar to the results obtained by Mehrabani et al (Mehrabani et al, 2012).…”

Effect of high fat diet on body weight and mammary tumor latency in MMTV-TGF-α mice

“…[32][33][34][35][36][37] Obesity also is a risk factor for postmenopausal breast cancer development in human beings. [38][39][40][41][42][43] Interestingly, a recent study indicates that body fat might be a better determinant of postmenopausal breast cancer risk than obesity, as reflected by either body weight or body mass index calculation. 44 This would be consistent with our results for the high fat diet mice that demonstrate higher fat pad weights are associated with shortened MT latency regardless of body weight status.…”

Overweight, Obesity, Diabetes, and Risk of Breast Cancer: Interlocking Pieces of the Puzzle

“…Thus, in a pooled analysis of three Italian case-control studies including 3,108 postmenopausal breast cancer cases and 2,604 controls [16], the relative risk (RR) for the highest quintile of BMI (Ͼ28.4 kg/m 2 ) was around 1.3 for women aged 50 -69 years and rose to 2.1 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4 -3.2) for those aged Ն70 years. This agerelated pattern of risk is similar to that observed for menopausal hormone replacement therapy and is consistent with a duration-risk relationship in exposure to high estrogen levels, and with a greater excess in estrogen levels among overweight elderly women [8].…”