Obesity, diabetes mellitus, and the risk of female breast cancer in Eastern China

Abstract

BackgroundThis study was designed to explore the relationship between obesity, diabetes mellitus (DM), and female breast cancer in Eastern China.MethodsA 1:3 matched case–control study was carried out, comprising 123 women with breast cancer and 369 controls. All of the 492 subjects were selected from a previous epidemiological survey of 122,058 women in Eastern China.ResultsThere were significant differences between the case and control groups in waist circumference and body mass index (BMI), but not in waist to hip ratio or hip circumference. There was a significant difference between the two groups in BMI for post-menopausal women, and a significant difference in waist circumference for pre-menopausal women. After adjustment for other factors, BMI was still significantly associated with breast cancer (odds ratio (OR) = 1.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14 to 2.19). DM was significantly associated with breast cancer (OR = 3.35, 95% CI 1.02 to 11.01) in the univariate analysis but not in the multivariate analysis (P = 0.059).ConclusionsObesity might be a risk factor for female breast cancer. We found different strengths of association for women with different menopausal status when we examined the relationship between obesity and breast cancer. The association between DM and female breast cancer should be further confirmed with larger sample sizes.

Distinct Effects of Body Mass Index and Waist/Hip Ratio on Risk of Breast Cancer by Joint Estrogen and Progestogen Receptor Status: Results from a Case-Control Study in Northern and Eastern China and Implications for Chemoprevention

“…In the current study, higher BMI was correlated with an increased risk of breast cancer risk among the overall population and among premenopausal women, but not in postmenopausal women. This was in accord with our previous case‐control study based on a cross‐sectional epidemiological survey, which also showed a significant relationship between BMI and overall breast cancer risk . Similarly, a dose‐response meta‐analysis also supported a significant positive association between BMI and premenopausal breast cancer risk among Asian populations.…”

The Association Between Body Size and Breast Cancer in Han Women in Northern and Eastern China

“…During the past decades, there has been an increasing interest in the relationship between body size (including BMI, body weight, waist and hip circumferences, and WHR) and risk for breast cancer. Similar to our study,Wang et al [14] reported that breast cancer patients in eastern China showed significant differences in waist circumference and BMI but not in WHR or hip circumference. However, they also found a significant difference in BMI between the postmenopausal patients and control subjects, and DM was significantly associated with breast cancer.…”

“…Recently, we reported high body mass index (BMI) was associated with increased breast cancer risk in Chinese Han women [4] in the first large-scale and cross-province epidemiological investigation in China since the 1970s. Coincidentally, women aged 45 to 59 years in China have the highest increase rate in BMI [13] and also the highest rate of breast cancer [2,14]. However, there are still some inconsistencies regarding the association between obesity and breast cancer [15][16][17], and it is necessary to study this relationship further.…”

A Review of the Epidemiology of Breast Cancer in Asia: Focus on Risk Factors

“…Huang et al, (2014) reported that among participants from China, of non-agricultural population, and second industry output; in contrast, incidence was negatively correlated with the percentage of population employed in primary industry (Fei et al, 2015). Other modifiable risk factors including active or passive smoking (Mizoo et al, 2013;Pimhanam et al, 2014;Tong et al, 2014;Wada et al, 2015), high body mass index (BMI) (Mizoo et al, 2013;Sangrajrang et al, 2013;Suzuki et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2013b;Anothaisintawee et al, 2014;Wada et al, 2014;Fu et al, 2015), use of oral contraceptives (Bhadoria et al, 2013;Anothaisintawee et al, 2014;Poosari et al, 2014), high perceived level of stress, and low level of physical later age at either first live birth, or at first pregnancy and last pregnancy were associated with increased BC risk (p-trend=0.002, 0.015, 0.008, respectively). Among participants from Japan, BC was increased in women who performed mixed feeding (HR 1.12, 95% CI, 0.92-1.37, p-trend=0.014) or feeding only with formula (HR 1.80, 95% CI, 1.14-2.86, p-trend=0.014) compared with women who only breastfed (Sugawara et al, 2013).…”

“…Increased BC risk was associated with insulin use for 3 or more years (mortality risk) among participants from Thailand (Tseng, 2015); polycystic ovary syndrome (Shen et al, 2015); tonsillectomy (Sun et al, 2015a); sleep apnea (Chang et al, 2014); multiple sclerosis among participants from Taiwan (Sun et al, 2014c); inflammatory bowel disease among participants from Asia (Tsai et al, 2015); women who had an organ transplant ; and diabetes among participants from China (Wang et al, 2013b). In addition, a study conducted in China found that hypertension was observed in a higher proportion of BC patients with type 2 diabetes compared with non-diabetic participants with BC (41.5 versus 26.1%, p= 0.001) (Wang et al, 2014b) demonstrating a link between breast cancer and other comorbidities.…”