Long-term weight change and risk of breast cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The role of obesity and weight change in breast-cancer development is complex and incompletely understood. We investigated long-term weight change and breast-cancer risk by body mass index (BMI) at age 20 years, menopausal status, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and hormone-receptor status. METHODS: Using data on weight collected at three different time points from women who participated in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, we investigated the association between weight change from age 20 years until middle adulthood and risk of breast cancer. RESULTS: In total, 150 257 women with a median age of 51 years at cohort entry were followed for an average of 14 years (standard deviation = 3.9) during which 6532 breast-cancer cases occurred. Compared with women with stable weight (±2.5 kg), long-term weight gain >10 kg was positively associated with postmenopausal breast-cancer risk in women who were lean at age 20 [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.42; 95% confidence interval 1.22-1.65] in ever HRT users (HR = 1.23; 1.04-1.44), in never HRT users (HR = 1.40; 1.16-1.68) and in oestrogen-and-progesterone-receptor-positive (ER+PR+) breast cancer (HR = 1.46; 1.15-1.85). CONCLUSION: Long-term weight gain was positively associated with postmenopausal breast cancer in women who were lean at age 20, both in HRT ever users and non-users, and hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer.
Date Issued
2021-12-01
Date Acceptance
2021-02-19
Citation
International Journal of Epidemiology, 2021, 50 (6), pp.1914-1926
ISSN
0300-5771
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Start Page
1914
End Page
1926
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Epidemiology
Volume
50
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33755122
PII: 6182058
Subjects
breast cancer
cohort study
long-term weight change
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Date Publish Online
2021-03-23