Environment and Breast Cancer: Science Review


Evidence From Humans
 
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Perinatal factors and risk of breast cancer
Sanderson, M., Williams, M. A., Malone, K. E., Stanford, J. L., Emanuel, I., White, E., Daling, J. R. Epidemiology. 1996. 7:1, 34-7.
Topic area
Early life exposures
Study design
Population based case-control
Study Participants
Menopausal Status
The menopausal status of women included in this study is listed here.
Yes
Number of Controls
Controls: 1399
Participant selection: Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Criteria used to select participants in the study.
Study 1: white women born after 1944 who resided in three western Washington counties at the time of diagnosis of first primary invasive breast cancer and who completed a standardized personal interview. Study 2: white women between 50 and 64 years of age who resided in King County, WA, at the time of diagnosis of first primary invasive breast cancer.and who completed a standardized personal interview
Exposure Investigated
Exposures investigated
Birthweight, maternal age, twinning, preterm birth
How exposure was measured
Other: In-person interview
Exposure assessment comment
Recall bias, risk of misclassification due to inaccuracy of reported information about own birth
Statistical Analysis
Breast cancer outcome investigated
Primary incident breast cancer
Ethnic groups with separate analysis
If this study provided a separate analysis by ethnic or racial group, the groups are listed here.
No
Confounders considered
Other breast cancer risk factors, such as family history, age at first birth, and hormone replacement therapy use, that were taken into account in the study.
Alcohol consumption
Genetic characterization included
If the study analyzed relationships between environmental factors and inherited genetic variations, this field will be marked “Yes.” “No”, if not.
No
Description of major analysis
Logistic regression model. Covariates including age, reference year, country of residence, first-degree family history, age at menarche, age at menopause, occurrence of a full-term pregnancy, adult obesity, documented infertility, use of oral contraceptiv
Strength of associations reported
Age 21-45: Birthweight: 1.7 (1.1-2.5); maternal age: 1.0 (0.7-1.4); preterm delivery: 1.1 (0.7-1.7); twin: 0.6 (0.3-1.3)
Age 50-64: Birthweight: 0.6 (0.3-1.1); maternal age: 1.0 (0.7-1.5); preterm delivery: 1.1 (0.5-2.1); twin: 0.9 (0.4-2.2)
Results Comments
Except for birth weight, there was little effect of other perinatal factors on breast cancer risk among women aged 21-45 or among women aged 50-64.
Author address
Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98104, USA.