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Age at first full-term birth and breast cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

In the general population, an early age at first full-term birth confers protection against the risk of developing breast cancer. The relationship between age at first birth and breast cancer risk is not clear for women with a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. Thus, we undertook a case–control study of women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation to study the effects of age at first full-term birth matched for other reproductive factors.

Methods

Information about reproductive factors, including age at first birth as well as medical history, was collected from a routinely administered research questionnaire. There were 2,295 matched pairs of women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation included in the final analysis.

Results

There was no significant difference in the mean age at first full-term birth among the BRCA1 (24.9 vs. 25.2; P = 0.10) or BRCA2 mutation carriers (26.5 vs. 26.6 years; P = 0.80). Findings were similar in the analysis limited to cases who were diagnosed with breast cancer prior to age 45.

Conclusion

This matched analysis of a large number of BRCA mutation carriers suggests that age at first birth has little influence on BRCA1 or BRCA2 breast cancer risk.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the study staff, students, and volunteers including Shana Kim, Farah Shoukat, Ellen MacDougall, Zoella Pasta, Nida Mian, Jennifer Ng, Sarah Chin, Hamida Begum, Harmeet Chaudhary, Asrafi Azmi, Shahana Nargis, Clotilde Ngwa, Mai Abdelhadi, Saiveena Penikalapati, Laavanya Somasundaram, and Hannah Horvath who helped with the data collection and data entry.

Other members of the Hereditary Breast Cancer Clinical Study Group: Beth Karlan, Barry Rosen, Tomasz Huzarski, Pal Moller, William D. Foulkes, Georgia Wiesner, Louise Bordeleau, Eitan Friedman, Wendy Meschino, Carrie Snyder, Kelly Metcalfe, Aletta Poll, Nicole Gojska, Ellen Warner, Susan Armel, Rochelle Demsky, Karen Panabaker, Melanie Taylor, Fergus Couch, Siranoush Manoukian, Barbara Pasini, Mary B. Daly, Linda Steele, Howard Saal, Taya Fallen, Marie Wood, Wendy McKinnon, Edmond Lemire, Albert E. Chudley, Kim Serfas, Kevin Sweet, Seema Panchal, Christine Elser, Ophira Ginsburg, Stephanie Hurst, Carey A. Cullinane, Robert E. Reilly, Joanne L. Blum, Theodora Ross, Caitlin Mauer, Ava Kwong, Cezary Cybulski, Jeanna McCuaig, Daniel Rayson, and Claudine Isaacs.

Funding

Joanne Kotsopoulos is the recipient of a Canada Research Chair (Tier II). Steven A. Narod is the recipient of a Canada Research Chair (Tier I). This study was supported by a Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute grant (703058). This work was supported the Peter Gilgan Tour de Bleu Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Women’s College Research Institute, Women’s College Hospital, 76 Grenville St., 6th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5S 1B2, Canada

    Joanne Kotsopoulos, Ping Sun & Steven A. Narod

  2. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Joanne Kotsopoulos & Steven A. Narod

  3. Department of Genetics and Pathology, International Hereditary Cancer Center, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland

    Jacek Gronwald & Jan Lubinski

  4. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE, USA

    Henry T. Lynch

  5. Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Center, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Andrea Eisen

  6. Division of Biomarkers of Early Detection and Prevention, Department of Population Sciences, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, CA, USA

    Susan L. Neuhausen

  7. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

    Nadine Tung

  8. London Health Sciences, London, ON, Canada

    Peter Ainsworth

  9. City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA

    Jeffrey N. Weitzel

  10. Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center/Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Tuya Pal

  11. Department of Oncology and Human Genetics, Programs in Cancer Genetics, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada

    William D. Foulkes

  12. Cleveland Clinic, Genomic Medicine Institute and Center for Personalized Genetic Healthcare, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Charis Eng

  13. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Christian F. Singer

  14. Division of Human Genetics, The Ohio State University Medical Center, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, OH, USA

    Leigha Senter

Authors
  1. Joanne Kotsopoulos
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  2. Jacek Gronwald
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  3. Henry T. Lynch
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  4. Andrea Eisen
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  5. Susan L. Neuhausen
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  6. Nadine Tung
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  7. Peter Ainsworth
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  8. Jeffrey N. Weitzel
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  9. Tuya Pal
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  10. William D. Foulkes
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  11. Charis Eng
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  12. Christian F. Singer
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  13. Leigha Senter
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  14. Ping Sun
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  15. Jan Lubinski
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  16. Steven A. Narod
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the Hereditary Breast Cancer Clinical Study Group

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven A. Narod.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

The Hereditary Breast Cancer Clinical Study Group are listed in “Acknowledgements”.

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Kotsopoulos, J., Gronwald, J., Lynch, H.T. et al. Age at first full-term birth and breast cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. Breast Cancer Res Treat 171, 421–426 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-018-4822-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-018-4822-y

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