Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Cancer Causes & Control

Open Access 01-12-2006 | Original Paper

Breast cancer risk factors in relation to breast density (United States)

Authors: Linda Titus-Ernstoff, Anna N. A. Tosteson, Claudia Kasales, Julia Weiss, Martha Goodrich, Elizabeth E. Hatch, Patricia A. Carney

Published in: Cancer Causes & Control | Issue 10/2006

Login to get access

Abstract

Objectives

Evaluate known breast cancer risk factors in relation to breast density.

Methods

We examined factors in relation to breast density in 144,018 New Hampshire (NH) women with at least one mammogram recorded in a statewide mammography registry. Mammographic breast density was measured by radiologists using the BI-RADS classification; risk factors of interest were obtained from patient intake forms and questionnaires.

Results

Initial analyses showed a strong inverse influence of age and body mass index (BMI) on breast density. In addition, women with late age at menarche, late age at first birth, premenopausal women, and those currently using hormone therapy (HT) tended to have higher breast density, while those with greater parity tended to have less dense breasts. Analyses stratified on age and BMI suggested interactions, which were formally assessed in a multivariable model. The impact of current HT use, relative to nonuse, differed across age groups, with an inverse association in younger women, and a positive association in older women (p < 0.0001 for the interaction). The positive effects of age at menarche and age at first birth, and the inverse influence of parity were less apparent in women with low BMI than in those with high BMI (p = 0.04, p < 0.0001 and p = 0.01, respectively, for the interactions). We also noted stronger positive effects for age at first birth in postmenopausal women (p = 0.004 for the interaction). The multivariable model indicated a slight positive influence of family history of breast cancer.

Conclusions

The influence of age at menarche and reproductive factors on breast density is less evident in women with high BMI. Density is reduced in young women using HT, but increased in HT users of age 50 or more.
Literature
1.
Wolfe JN (1976) Breast patterns as an index of risk for developing breast cancer. Am J Roentgenol 126:1130–1139
2.
Wilkinson E, Clopton C, Gordonson J, Greene R, Hill A, Pike MC (1977) Mammographic parenchymal patter and the risk of breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 59:1397–1400PubMed
3.
Byrne C, Schairer C, Wolfe J, et al. (1995) Mammographic features and breast cancer risk: effects with time, age, and menopause status. J Natl Cancer Inst 87:1622–1669PubMed
4.
Brisson J, Morrison AS, Kopans DB, et al. (1984) Height and weight, mammographic features of breast tissue, and breast cancer risk. Am J Epidemiol 119:371–381PubMed
5.
Boyd NF, Lockwood GA, Byng JW, Tritchler DL, Yaffe MJ (1998) Mammographic densities and breast cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 7:1133–1144PubMed
6.
de Stavola BL, Gravelle IH, Wang DY, et al. (1990) Relationship of mammographic parenchymal patterns with breast cancer risk factors and risk of breast cancer in a prospective study. Int J Epidemiol 19:247–254PubMed
7.
Brisson J (1991) Family history of breast cancer, mammographic features of breast tissue, and breast cancer risk. Epidemiology 2:440–444PubMedCrossRef
8.
Saftlas AF, Szklo M (1987) Mammographic parenchymal patters and breast cancer risk. Epidemiol Rev 9:146–174PubMed
9.
Kerlikowske K, Grady D, Barclay J, Sickles EA, Ernster V (1996) Effect of age, breast density, and family history on the sensitivity of first screening mammography. J Am Med Assoc 276:33–38CrossRef
10.
Rosenberg RD, Hunt WC, Williamson MR, et al. (1998) Effects of age, breast density, ethnicity, and estrogen replacement therapy on screening mammographic sensitivity and cancer stage at diagnosis: review of 183,134 screening mammograms in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Radiology 209:511–518PubMed
11.
Mandelson MT, Oestreicher N, Porter PL, et al. (2000) Breast density as a predictor of mammographic detection: comparison of interval- and screen detected cancers. J Natl Cancer Inst 92:1081–1087PubMedCrossRef
12.
Carney PA, Miglioretti DL, Yankaskas BC, et al. (2003) The effects of age, breast density, and hormone replacement therapy use on the accuracy of screening mammography. Ann Intern Med 138(3):168–175PubMed
13.
Brinton L, Schairer C, Hoover RN, Fraumeni JF Jr (1988) Menstrual factors and risk of breast cancer. Cancer Invest 6:245–254PubMed
14.
Lubin JH, Burns PE, Blot WJ, et al. (1982) Risk factors for breast cancer in women in Northern Alberta, Canada, as related to age at diagnosis. J Natl Cancer Inst 68:211–217PubMed
15.
Titus-Ernstoff L, Longecker MP, Newcomb PA, et al. (1998) Menstrual factors in relation to breast cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 7:783–789PubMed
16.
El-Bastawissi AY, White E, Mandelson MT, Taplin SH (2000) Reproductive and hormonal factors associated with mammographic breast density by age (United States). Cancer Causes Control 11(10):955–963PubMedCrossRef
17.
Vachon CM, Kushi LH, Cerhan JR, Juni CC, Sellers TA (2000) Association of diet and mammographic breast density in the Minnesota breast cancer family cohort. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 9:151–160PubMed
18.
Gravelle IH, Bulstrode JC, Wang DY, Bulbrook RD, Hayward JL (1980) The relation between radiographic features and determinants of risk of breast cancer. Br J Radiol 53:107–113PubMedCrossRef
19.
Gapstur SM, Lopez P, Colangelo LA, Wolfman J, Van Horn L, Hendrick RE (2003) Associations of breast cancer risk factors with breast density in Hispanic women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 12:1074–1080PubMed
20.
Heng D, Gao F, Jong R, et al. (2004) Risk factors for breast cancer associated with mammographic features in Singaporean Chinese Women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 13:1751–1758PubMed
21.
Carney PA, Poplack SP, Wells WA, Littenberg B (1996) Development and design of a population-based mammography registry: the New Hampshire Mammography Network. Am J Roentgenol 167:367–372
22.
Poplack SP, Tosteson AN, Grove M, Wells WA, Carney PA (2000) The practice of mammography in 53,803 women from the New Hampshire Mammography Network. Radiology 217:832–840PubMed
23.
American College of Radiology (ACR) Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System Atlas (BI-RADS® Atlas) (2003). American College of Radiology, Reston, VA
24.
Breslow NE, Day NE (1987) Statistical methods in cancer research, vol II—the design and analysis of cohort studies. IARC Scientific Publication No. 82. Lyon
25.
Heine JJ, Malhotra P (2002) Mammographic tissue, breast cancer risk, serial image analysis, and digital mammography. Part 1: Tissue and related risk factors. Acad Radiol 9:298–316PubMedCrossRef
26.
Ma L, Fishell E, Wright B, Hanna W, Allan S, Boyd NF (1992) Case–control study of factors associated with failure to detect breast cancer by mammography. J Nat Cancer Inst 84:781–785PubMed
27.
Bird RE, Wallace TW, Yankaskas BC (1992) Analysis of cancers missed at screening mammography Radiology 184:613–617PubMed
28.
Brisson J, Sadowski NL, Twaddle JA, Morrison AS, Cole P, Merletti F (1982) The relation of mammographic features of the breast to breast cancer risk factors. Am J Epidemiol 115:438–443PubMed
29.
Kelsey JL, Gammon MD (2000). The epidemiology of breast cancer. Cancer 41:146–165
30.
Roubidoux MA, Kaur JS, Griffith KA, et al. (2003) Correlates of mammogram density in southwestern native-American Women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 12:552–558PubMed
31.
Gram IT, Funkhouser E, Tabar L (1995) Reproductive and menstrual factors in relation to mammographic parenchymal patterns among perimenopausal women. Br J Cancer 71:647–650PubMed
32.
Rutter CM, Mandelson, Laya MB, Seger DJ, Taplin S (2001) Changes in breast density associated with initiation, discontinuation, and continuing use of hormone replacement therapy. J Am Med Assoc 285:171–176CrossRef
33.
Lundstrom E, Wilczek B, von Palffy Z, Soderqvist G, von Schoultz B (1999) Mammographic breast density during hormone replacement therapy: differences according to treatment. Am J Obstet Gynecol 181:348–352PubMedCrossRef
34.
Greendale GA, Reboussin BA, Sie A, et al. (1999). Effects of estrogen and estrogen–progestin on mammographic parenchymal density. Ann Intern Med 130:262–269PubMed
35.
Brinton L, Hoover R, Fraumeni JF Jr (1986) Menopausal oestrogens and breast cancer risk: an expanded case–control study. Br J Cancer 54:825–832PubMed
36.
Newcomb PA, Titus-Ernstoff L, Egan KM, et al. (2002) Postmenopausal estrogen and progestin use in relation to breast cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 11:593–600PubMed
37.
Colditz GA, Hankinson SE, Hunter DJ, et al. (1995) The use of estrogens and progestins and the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. N Engl J Med 332:1589–1593PubMedCrossRef
38.
Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer (1997) Breast cancer and hormone replacement therapy: collaborative reanalysis of data from 51 epidemiological studies of 52,705 women with breast cancer and 108,411 women without breast cancer. Lancet 350:1047–1059CrossRef
39.
Chen CL, Weiss NS, Newcomb P, Barlow W, White E (2002) Hormone replacement therapy in relation to breast cancer. J Am Med Assoc 287:734–741CrossRef
40.
Schairer C, Lubin J, Troisi R, Sturgeon S, Brinton L, Hoover R (2000) Menopausal estrogen and estrogen-progestin replacement therapy and breast cancer risk. J Am Med Assoc 283:485–491CrossRef
41.
Baines CJ, Vidmar V, McKeown-Eyssen G, Tibshirani R (1997) Impact of menstrual phase on false-negative mammograms in the Canadian National Breast Screening Study. Cancer 80:720–724PubMedCrossRef
42.
White E, Velentgas P, Mandelson MT, et al. (1998) Variation in mammographic breast density by time in menstrual cycle among women aged 40–49 years. J Natl Cancer Inst 90:906–910PubMedCrossRef
43.
Ursin G, Parisky YR, Pike MC, Spicer DV (2001) Mammographic density changes during the menstrual cycle. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 10:141–142PubMed
44.
Women’s Health Initiative (2002) Risks and benefits of estrogen plus progestin in healthy postmenopausal women. J Am Med Assoc 288:321–333CrossRef
45.
Women’s Health Initiative (2004) Effects of conjugated equine estrogen in postmenopausal women with hysterectomy. J Am Med Assoc 291:1701–1712CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Breast cancer risk factors in relation to breast density (United States)
Authors
Linda Titus-Ernstoff
Anna N. A. Tosteson
Claudia Kasales
Julia Weiss
Martha Goodrich
Elizabeth E. Hatch
Patricia A. Carney
Publication date
01-12-2006
Publisher
Kluwer Academic Publishers
Published in
Cancer Causes & Control / Issue 10/2006
Print ISSN: 0957-5243
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7225
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0071-1
Webinar | 19-02-2024 | 17:30 (CET)

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on antibody–drug conjugates in cancer

Watch now

Antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) are novel agents that have shown promise across multiple tumor types. Explore the current landscape of ADCs in breast and lung cancer with our experts, and gain insights into the mechanism of action, key clinical trials data, existing challenges, and future directions.

Dr. Véronique Diéras
Prof. Fabrice Barlesi
Developed by: Springer Medicine
Image Credits