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Domain-specific patterns of physical activity and risk of breast cancer sub-types in the MCC-Spain study

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

Abstract

Purpose

Literature on the separate effects of physical activities (PA) on risk of breast cancer (BC) sub-types is heterogeneous. We investigated domain-specific associations between PA and BC risk by menopausal status and molecular subtype.

Methods

1389 histologically confirmed invasive BC cases and 1712 controls from the MCC-Spain study were included (age: 20–85 years). Questionnaire information on PA at work, at home, and during leisure time, including recreational PA and sedentary time, and data on reproductive history, anthropometry, family history of BC, diet, and lifestyles were obtained through face-to-face interviews. Information on the expression of oestrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and HER2 receptors was available for > 95% of the cases. Mixed-effects multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) of BC sub-types.

Results

Occupational PA (OPA) intensity was associated with higher BC risk. Associations were stronger for pre-menopausal (ORactive/very active vs. sedentary job 1.89; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22, 2.91) and ER+/PR+, HER2− tumours (OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.28, 2.53). Sedentary time was associated with higher risk of post-menopausal BC (OR6−9 vs. <3 h/day 1.69; 95% CI 1.22, 2.32). Moderate-to-high-intensity household (HPA) and recreational PA (RPA) were inversely associated with BC occurrence in pre- and post-menopausal women, with estimated 14–33% lower risks (P for trend < 0.001) above 1000 MET·min/week.

Conclusions

Higher levels of HPA and RPA were associated with lower risk of BC, with heterogeneity by molecular type, whereas sitting time was a consistent independent risk factor of BC risk. The positive association found for OPA with ER+/PR+ BC deserves further investigation.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study area available, with restrictions, from the MCC-Spain study coordinators, Manolis Kogevinas (manolis.kogevinas@isglobal.org) and Marina Pollán (mpollan@isciii.es), on reasonable request. The release of the database in whole or in part would require prior approval by the PI of each centre providing the data and by the Steering Committee of the MCC-Spain study (www.mccspain.org) for further information on how to establish a collaboration and gain access to MCC-Spain data.

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Funding

The study was partially funded by the “Accion Transversal del Cancer", approved by the Spanish Ministry Council on the 11th October 2007, by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-FEDER (PI08/1770, PI08/0533, PI08/1359, PS09/00773-Cantabria, PS09/01286-León, PS09/01903-Valencia, PS09/02078-Huelva, PS09/01662-Granada, PI11/01403, PI11/01889-FEDER, PI11/00226, PI11/01810, PI11/02213, PI12/00488, PI12/00265, PI12/01270, PI12/00715, PI12/00150, PI14/01219, PI14/0613, PI15/00069, PI15/00914, PI15/01032, PI17CIII/00034), by the Fundación Marqués de Valdecilla (API 10/09), by the ICGC International Cancer Genome Consortium CLL (The ICGC CLL-Genome Project is funded by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and Red Temática de Investigación del Cáncer (RTICC) del ISCIII (RD12/0036/0036)), by the Junta de Castilla y León (LE22A10-2), by the Consejería de Salud of the Junta de Andalucía (PI-0571-2009, PI-0306-2011, salud201200057018tra), by the Conselleria de Sanitat of the Generalitat Valenciana (AP_061/10), by the Recercaixa (2010ACUP 00310), by the Regional Government of the Basque Country, by the Consejería de Sanidad de la Región de Murcia, by the European Commission grants FOOD-CT-2006-036224-HIWATE, by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) Scientific Foundation, by the Catalan Government-Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) grants 2017SGR723 and 2014SGR850, by the Fundación Caja de Ahorros de Asturias, and by the University of Oviedo. ISGlobal is a member of the CERCA Programme, Generalitat de Catalunya.

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Correspondence to Antonio J. Molina.

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Huerta, J.M., Molina, A.J., Chirlaque, M.D. et al. Domain-specific patterns of physical activity and risk of breast cancer sub-types in the MCC-Spain study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 177, 749–760 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-019-05358-x

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