Association Between Parity and Obesity in Mexican and Mexican–American Women: Findings from the Ella Binational Breast Cancer Study

Obesity at diagnosis of breast cancer is associated with higher all-cause mortality and treatment-associated toxicities. We evaluated the association between parity and obesity in the Ella study, a population of Mexican and Mexican–American breast cancer patients with high parity. Obesity outcomes included body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m², waist circumference (WC) ≥35 in (88 cm), and waist-to-hip-ratio (WHR) ≥0.85. Prevalence of obesity ([BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m²) was 38.9 %. For WC, the multivariate odds ratio (OR) (95 % confidence interval [CI]) for having WC ≥ 35 inches in women with ≥4 pregnancies relative to those with 1–2 pregnancies was 1.59 (1.01–2.47). Higher parity (≥4 pregnancies) was non-significantly associated with high BMI (OR = 1.10; 95 % CI 0.73–1.67). No positive association was observed for WHR. Our results suggest WC is independently associated with high parity in Hispanic women and may be an optimal target for post-partum weight loss interventions.