Body size, weight change, fat distribution and breast cancer risk in Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women

• DOI: 10.1007/s10549-006-9292-y
• Publication Date: 2006-11-02T16:29:30Z
• Authors: Martha L. Slattery; Carol Sweeney; Sandra Edwards; Jennifer Herrick; Kathy Baumgartner; Roger Wolff; Maureen Murtaugh; Richard Baumgartner; Anna Giuliano; Tim Byers
• Keywords: Adult; 2. Zero hunger; Body Weight; Breast Neoplasms; Hispanic or Latino; Middle Aged; White People; Body Mass Index; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Adipose Tissue; Receptors, Estrogen; Risk Factors; Body Size; Humans; Female; Aged

The incidence of breast cancer varies among women living in the Southwestern part of the US. We evaluate how body size influences breast cancer risk among these women.Cases (n = 2,325) diagnosed with breast cancer between October 1, 1999 and May 2004 residing in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, or Utah were matched to controls (n = 2,525). Participants were interviewed; height, weight, waist, and hip circumference were measured at the time of interview; blood was drawn.A large body mass index (BMI) at age 15 was inversely associated with pre-menopausal breast cancer risk in both non-Hispanic white (NHW) and Hispanic women (Odds ratio, ORs 0.68 95% CI 0.44, 1.04, and 0.65 95% CI 0.39, 1.08, respectively); BMI at age 15 also had an impact on subsequent breast cancer associated with obesity after menopause. Among post-menopausal women, recent exposure to hormones was an important modifier of risk associated with body size. Among women not recently exposed to hormones risk associated with obesity was 1.61 (95% CI 1.05, 2.45) for NHW women; gaining > or = 25 kg between 15 and age 50 was inversely associated with breast cancer among Hispanic women (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.23, 1.14). A large weight gain and a large waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was associated with an increased odds of having an estrogen receptor negative tumor among NHW only (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.07, 3.08, and 2.04 95% CI 1.20,3.50).These findings suggest that the metabolic consequences of obesity on breast cancer risk differ between NHW and Hispanic women living in the Southwest.