Serum lipids and breast cancer risk: a cohort study of 5,207 Danish women

Abstract

The association between serum lipids and breast cancer risk was investigated in a cohort of 5,207 Danish women, who participated in The Glostrup Population Studies between 1964 and 1986. During four to 26 years of follow-up, 51 incident cases of breast cancer were identified by linkage to the Danish Cancer Registry. At the time of lipid measurement, the women were between 30 and 80 years of age. An inverse association was found between serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and risk of breast cancer, which was not changed by adjustment for potential confounders such as social class, age at menarche and menopause, number of full-term pregnancies, body mass index, or alcohol and coffee consumption. The relative risk was 0.3 (95 percent confidence interval = 0.1-0.8) for women in the highest quartile of serum HDL-cholesterol compared with women in the lowest quartile and the relation displayed a significant negative trend (P = 0.01). For serum triglycerides there was a suggestion of a positive association with breast cancer incidence, but the trend was not significant (P = 0.06). No relationship between total serum cholesterol or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and risk of breast cancer was observed. Risk estimates for well known breast cancer risk factors such as social class, age at menopause, number of full-term pregnancies, and obesity were in the directions expected.

HDL-cholesterol and the incidence of lung cancer in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study

“…Case-control studies have shown that low plasma HDLcholesterol is associated with newly diagnosed cancer at various sites [10,[21][22][23]26,27]. That association has also been seen in case-control studies of lung cancer [7][8][9], however those studies were based on relatively small numbers of cases and compared mean levels of HDLcholesterol in cases and controls without always adjusting for age or smoking status.…”

Serum total cholesterol and the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal Korean women

“…However, it is difficult to totally negate any significant association between cholesterol and breast cancer on the basis of those studies, because some of the studies with null finding did not evaluated the association as a primary study purpose [5,7] and some were limited by a small number of subjects, or by an insufficient evaluation of relevant covariates such as obesity and menopausal status. The Glostrup population studies of Danish women considered a range of covariates (social class, age at menarche, menopause, number of full-term pregnancies, BMI, alcohol, and coffee consumption), but only 51 breast cancer cases occurred during the study period, which resulted in wide CIs of estimate [4]. A study in Norwegian women was large cohort study with information on lipid profiles but did not take account of reproductive factors [6].…”

“…Among previous studies that prospectively examined the relationship between serum cholesterol and breast cancer, studies reporting no association [3][4][5][6] are more common than those reporting inverse [8] or positive associations [23]. However, it is difficult to totally negate any significant association between cholesterol and breast cancer on the basis of those studies, because some of the studies with null finding did not evaluated the association as a primary study purpose [5,7] and some were limited by a small number of subjects, or by an insufficient evaluation of relevant covariates such as obesity and menopausal status.…”

“…However, investigators reported controversial findings of no [3][4][5][6], positive [7], or inverse [8] associations in Western populations. Various associations between cholesterol level and breast cancer risk depending on the age of studied women were also reported [9].…”

Plasma lipid alterations in African-American women with breast cancer

“…Alterations in serum lipids and lipoprotein cholesterol have been postulated to be associated with breast cancer risk. Several studies have shown lipid and lipoprotein cholesterol alterations in cancer patients (Bani et al 1986;Kumar et al 1991;Dilman et al 1981;Hoyer and Engholm 1992;KoÈ kogAE lu et al 1994). Alterations included elevated plasma triglycerides, elevated very-low-density lipoportein (VLDL) cholesterol and decreased high-density-lipoprotein (HDL)-containing cholesterol levels.…”