Early Life Factors and Incidence of Proliferative Benign Breast Disease

Abstract

Proliferative benign breast disease is a marker of increased breast cancer risk, yet little is known about its etiology. Most studies of benign breast disease have focused only on risk factors in adulthood, despite growing evidence that factors in early life influence breast cancer risk. We explored the relations of several early life factors with incidence of proliferative benign breast disease among 71,896 premenopausal women in the Nurses' Health Study II who recalled their body fatness at young ages, physical activity in adolescence, birthweight, and history of being breastfed. Between 1991 and 1997, 901 of these women were identified as having proliferative benign breast disease from a centralized pathology review. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated from Cox proportional hazards models. Greater childhood body fatness (ages 5-10) was associated with decreased risk of proliferative benign breast disease; the multivariate RR (95% CI) for the most overweight compared with the most lean was 0.61 (0.44-0.86; P trend < 0.0001) and remained significant after adjustment for current body mass index. Body mass index at age 18 was also inversely associated with incidence of proliferative benign breast disease, with a multivariate RR (95% CI) of 0.67 (0.52-0.88) for those who were z25 kg/m 2 compared with those who were <19 kg/m 2 (P trend = 0.001). There were no clear associations for physical activity in adolescence, birthweight, or being breastfed. These results indicate that premenopausal women who were heavier at young ages have lower incidence of proliferative benign breast disease, consistent with previous findings for breast cancer. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005;14(12):2889 -97)

Epidemiology and Prevention of Breast Cancer

“…Incident cases (n = 470) of proliferative benign breast disease were confirmed through centralized pathology review. We observed a positive relation between animal fat and incident proliferative disease and an inverse relation between vegetable fat and benign breast disease (35). Vitamin E and fiber are also inversely related to benign breast disease.…”

“…We can add to this data on alcohol and folate. Our retrospective findings for vitamin E and vegetable fat intake during adolescence are provocative, suggesting up to 50% reduction in risk (35,37,43). Replication of this work, together with prospective confirmation, must be a high priority before we can frame prevention strategies.…”

Plasma Isoflavones and Fibrocystic Breast Conditions and Breast Cancer Among Women in Shanghai, China

“…These findings are consistent with several other epidemiologic studies that suggest that earlier life exposures influence normal structural changes in the breast later in life. Baer et al (34) reported that women who were heavier at young ages had lower incidence of proliferative benign breast disease. Byrne et al (35) reported that higher alcohol intake among women ages 18 to 22 years was associated with later nonproliferative and proliferative benign breast disease, but not atypical hyperplasia.…”

Dietary patterns and benign breast diseases: a case–control study

“…Moreover, fruits and vegetables seem to contain ingredients with anti-proliferative effects on the breast epithelium (16) . Fibres reduce circulatory levels of oestrogen and thus prevent breast cell proliferation (6) . These ingredients impede the reabsorption of oestrogen from the gastrointestinal tract (30) , leading to increased levels of oestrogen-binding globulin and lower bioavailability of these molecules (31) .…”

“…Several Abbreviation: BBD, benign breast diseases. studies have been undertaken to assess the association between food, macronutrients and micronutrients with the risk of BBD (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17) . Regarding the association of food intake and BBD, some controversial results are reported and no specific dietary pattern has been yet proposed (5) .…”