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Reproductive factors and the risk of breast cancer in old age: a Norwegian cohort study

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Reproductive factors, including early age at menarche, late age at first birth, low parity, and late age at menopause, are associated with increased risk of breast cancer, but it is not clear to which degree the associations persist into old age. Altogether 58,426 Norwegian women born between 1886 and 1928 were followed up for breast cancer incidence from 1961 to 2008. Associations of reproductive factors with breast cancer risk were analyzed separately for the age intervals 55–69 and 70 years and older, using Cox regression. The associations were of similar strength in the two age strata. At 70 years and later, hazard ratios (HR) for the following comparisons were found: late (≥17 years) versus early (<13 years) age at menarche [HR 0.79, 95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.62, 1.01, P for trend <0.001]; late (≥35 years) versus early (<20 years) age at first birth (HR 1.54, 95 % CI: 1.13, 2.11, P for trend <0.001); high (≥5) versus low (1) parity (HR 0.68, 95 % CI: 0.54, 0.86, P for trend = 0.001) and late (50–54 years) versus early (<45 years) age at menopause (HR 1.44, 95 % CI: 1.10, 1.90, P for trend = 0.002). These findings suggest that reproductive events may have life-long effects on breast cancer risk.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Norwegian Cancer Society.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Julie Horn, Bjørn Olav Åsvold, Signe Opdahl, Steinar Tretli & Lars J. Vatten

  2. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Levanger Hospital, Health Trust Nord-Trøndelag, Levanger, Norway

    Julie Horn

  3. Department of Endocrinology, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway

    Bjørn Olav Åsvold

  4. Cancer Registry of Norway, Institute of Population-based Cancer Research, Oslo, Norway

    Steinar Tretli

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  1. Julie Horn
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  2. Bjørn Olav Åsvold
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Correspondence to Julie Horn.

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Horn, J., Åsvold, B.O., Opdahl, S. et al. Reproductive factors and the risk of breast cancer in old age: a Norwegian cohort study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 139, 237–243 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-013-2531-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-013-2531-0

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