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Childhood and teenage physical activity and breast cancer risk

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

Abstract

Purpose

Adult physical activity is associated with reduced breast cancer risk, but few studies have evaluated activity before adulthood. Early life may be an important period because of rapid breast development and hormonal changes. This study contributes new information by examining childhood (ages 5–12) and teenage (ages 13–19) activity separately and overall.

Methods

The Sister Study is a cohort of 50,884 women aged 35–74. Women reported age 5–19 sports/exercise activities and age 10 and 16 unstructured activities. Both hours and MET-hours of activity were considered in association with breast cancer overall, by ER status, and by menopausal status. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated with Cox proportional hazards models.

Results

2416 cases were diagnosed during follow-up (mean = 6.4 years). Participation in 7+ hours (vs <1 h) per week of sports/exercise during ages 5–19 was associated with reduced breast cancer risk (HR = 0.75; 95% CI 0.57–0.99). 7+ hours (vs <1 h) per week of unstructured physical activity at age 16, but not age 10, was inversely associated with breast cancer (HR = 0.81; 95% CI 0.70–0.95). Associations were more pronounced for ER+ tumors, especially for activity during the childhood (ages 5–12) period. Due to low correlation between childhood/teenage and adulthood activity in this study (r = 0.1), it is unlikely that recent activity explains our results.

Conclusions

Findings from this large cohort indicate higher levels of physical activity during ages 5–19 are inversely associated with breast cancer risk, supporting early life as a window of susceptibility for breast cancer development.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the helpful review by Drs. Hazel Nichols and Lawrence Engel.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences training grant to the University of North Carolina (T32ES007018) and by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Z01-ES044005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, 135 Dauer Drive, CB# 7435, 2101A McGavran-Greenberg Hall, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7435, USA

    Nicole M. Niehoff

  2. Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

    Alexandra J. White & Dale P. Sandler

Authors
  1. Nicole M. Niehoff
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Correspondence to Nicole M. Niehoff.

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The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

 All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of Institutional Review Boards of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, and the Copernicus Group and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the Sister Study.

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Niehoff, N.M., White, A.J. & Sandler, D.P. Childhood and teenage physical activity and breast cancer risk. Breast Cancer Res Treat 164, 697–705 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-017-4276-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-017-4276-7

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