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Post-diagnosis weight gain and breast cancer recurrence in women with early stage breast cancer

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

Summary

Purpose

To examine whether weight gain after diagnosis of breast cancer affects the risk of breast cancer recurrence.

Patient and methods

Patients included 3215 women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer (Stage I >1 cm., II, and IIIA) who were enrolled either in an observational cohort of breast cancer survivors or were part of the comparison group of a dietary intervention trial to prevent breast cancer recurrence. We computed weight change from 1 year prior to diagnosis to study enrollment. Delayed entry Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate associations of categories of weight change with time to recurrence, controlling for known prognostic factors.

Results

Neither moderate (5–10%) nor large (> 10%) weight gain (HR 0.8, 95% CI, 0.6–1.1; HR 0.9, 95% CI, 0.7–1.2, respectively) after breast cancer diagnosis was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer recurrence in the early years post-diagnosis (median time of 73.7 months from diagnosis).

Conclusion

Our research provides evidence that weight gain commonly seen in the first several years following a breast cancer diagnosis does not increase a woman’s risk for breast cancer recurrence in the first 5–7 years post-diagnosis. However, this research does not address the effects of weight gain on overall survival or on the risk of other new cancers, other prognostic outcomes of concern to the breast cancer survivor.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by NCI Grant CA 080027 and CA 106764; Kaiser Foundation Research Institute, Oakland, Ca., NCI Grant CA69375; University of California, San Diego, General Clinical Research Center NIH Grant M01-RR00827; University of California, San Francisco, General Clinical Research Center NIH Grant M01-RR00079; Stanford University General Clinical Research Center NIH Grant M01-RR00070; and the Walton Family Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, 2000 Broadway, 94612, Oakland, CA, USA

    Bette J. Caan, Loki Natarajan, Adrienne Castillo, Erica P. Gunderson, Laurel Habel & Barbara Sternfeld

  2. Division of Biostatistics, Departments of Family and Preventive Medicine, and Cancer Prevention and Control Program, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

    Jennifer A. Emond, Vicky A. Newman, Cheryl L. Rock & John P. Pierce

  3. MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, Houston, TX, USA

    Lovell Jones

  4. Health Research Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Martha L. Slattery

  5. Department of Medicine, Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

    Marcia L. Stefanick

  6. Arizona Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Arizona, USA

    Cynthia A. Thomson

Authors
  1. Bette J. Caan
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  2. Jennifer A. Emond
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  3. Loki Natarajan
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  4. Adrienne Castillo
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  5. Erica P. Gunderson
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  6. Laurel Habel
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  7. Lovell Jones
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  8. Vicky A. Newman
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  9. Cheryl L. Rock
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  10. Martha L. Slattery
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  11. Marcia L. Stefanick
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  12. Barbara Sternfeld
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  13. Cynthia A. Thomson
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  14. John P. Pierce
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bette J. Caan.

Additional information

For the Life After Cancer Epidemiology (LACE) Study group (Bette J. Caan, Adrienne Castillo, Erica P. Gunderson, Laurel Habel, Martha L. Slattery, Barbara Sternfeld),

For the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Study Group (Jennifer A. Emond, Loki Natarajan, Lovell Jones, Vicky A. Newman, Cheryl L. Rock, Marcia L. Stefanick, Cynthia A. Thomson, John P. Pierce)

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Caan, B.J., Emond, J.A., Natarajan, L. et al. Post-diagnosis weight gain and breast cancer recurrence in women with early stage breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 99, 47–57 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-006-9179-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-006-9179-y

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