Maternal and Infant Anthropometric Characteristics and Breast Cancer Incidence in the Daughter

Abstract

the intrauterine and early life environments have been linked to the etiology of breast cancer in prior studies. We prospectively examined whether maternal and newborn anthropometric factors as reported by the mother are related to an increased incidence of adult breast cancer in the daughter. We used data from 35,133 mother-daughter dyads of the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) II and the Nurses' Mothers' Cohort Study. In 2001, living mothers of NHS II participants who were free of cancer completed a questionnaire on their pregnancy with the nurse and their nurse daughter's early life experience. During 403,786 years of follow-up, 865 daughters developed incident cases of invasive breast cancer. Nurses with a birthweight of ≥4000 g had a 32% greater risk for breast cancer (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.02-1.71, p-trend = 0.09) compared with those with birthweights of 3000-3499 g. Higher birth length tended to increase risk of premenopausal breast cancer (p for trend = 0.05). We further noted a modest U-shaped relation between maternal weight gain during pregnancy and premenopausal breast cancer incidence in the daughter. Fetal growth may contribute to shaping later life risk for breast cancer, especially prior to menopause.

Maternal Body Mass Index, Gestational Weight Gain, and Risk of Cancer in Offspring: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Based on a review of the full texts of 112 studies, 90 studies were excluded, mainly because they were reviews, nondescendant cancers, lack of information on maternal BMI or GWG, unclear or incomplete data, or duplicated data. Finally, twenty-two studies were identified as eligible and included in the present meta-analysis ( Figure 1 ) [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ].…”

“… Forest plot of the association between maternal BMI and the risk of total cancer in offspring [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ]. …”

Early-Life Risk Factors for Breast Cancer – Prospective Follow-up in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966

“…Thirdly, the population-based nature of the sample increases the heterogeneity of the study population. In addition, almost none of the previous studies have adjusted antenatal anthropometrics with plurality and gestational age, although some have used the Ponderal Index (kg/m 3 ) (3,4,6).…”

“…The number of menstrual cycles during a woman's lifetime (age of menarche, age of first pregnancy, parity and onset of natural menopause) is strongly connected to higher risk of both premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer (1,2). Of the early factors, some studies have shown a positive connection between birth length (3)(4)(5)(6)(7) and birth weight (3,6,7) and risk of breast cancer. The connection between birth weight and risk of breast cancer has been found particularly among premenopausal women (8,9) but this has not been observed in all studies (5,10).…”

Birth weight and the risk of overall breast cancer, premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer in adulthood: a dose-response meta-analysis of observational studies

“…Additionally, the results of many studies suggest that birth parameters as a surrogate for cumulative exposure in utero are associated with cancer risk in adulthood 3 . In this context, an increasing number of studies have converged on the relationship between birth weight and subsequent breast cancer risk 4-8 . Most of the studies have compared the outcomes between low birth weight, high birth weight, and normal birth weight; however, the conclusions have not been consistent due to differences in grouping criteria across studies.…”