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The relationship between bone mineral density and mammographic density in Korean women: The Healthy Twin study

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Mammographic density is one of the strong risk factors for breast cancer. A potential mechanism for this association is that cumulative exposure to mammographic density may reflect cumulative exposure to hormones that stimulate cell division in breast stroma and epithelium, which may have corresponding effects on breast cancer development. Bone mineral density (BMD), a marker of lifetime estrogen exposure, has been found to be associated with breast cancer. We examined the association between BMD and mammographic density in a Korean population. Study subjects were 730 Korean women selected from the Healthy Twin study. BMD (g/cm2) was measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Mammographic density was measured from digital mammograms using a computer-assisted thresholding method. Linear mixed model considering familial correlations and a wide range of covariates was used for analyses. Quantitative genetic analysis was completed using SOLAR. In premenopausal women, positive associations existed between absolute dense area and BMD at ribs, pelvis, and legs, and between percent dense area and BMD at pelvis and legs. However, in postmenopausal women, there was no association between BMD at any site and mammographic density measures. An evaluation of additive genetic cross-trait correlation showed that absolute dense area had a weak-positive additive genetic cross-trait correlation with BMD at ribs and spines after full adjustment of covariates. This finding suggests that the association between mammographic density and breast cancer could, at least in part, be attributable to an estrogen-related hormonal mechanism.

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Abbreviations

BMD:

Bone mineral density

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Genome Research Institute, Korea, National Institute of Health research contract (budgets 2005-347-2400-2440-215, 2006-347-2400-2440-215, 2007-347-2400-2440-215, 2008-E00255-00, and 2009-E00500-00), Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, (Grant Number M10305030005), and the Samsung Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI C-A9-218-1). The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily any funding body.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

    Joohon Sung

  2. Department of Family Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, and Center for Clinical Research, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Ilwondong, Gangnamgu, Seoul, 135-710, South Korea

    Yun-Mi Song

  3. Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Jennifer Stone

  4. Department of Family Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    Kayoung Lee

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  1. Joohon Sung
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  2. Yun-Mi Song
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  3. Jennifer Stone
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  4. Kayoung Lee
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Correspondence to Yun-Mi Song.

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Sung, J., Song, YM., Stone, J. et al. The relationship between bone mineral density and mammographic density in Korean women: The Healthy Twin study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 129, 583–591 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-011-1523-1

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