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Reduced breast cancer mortality among fishermen's wives in Norway

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International comparisons show that populations having a high consumption of fish experience low incidence of breast cancer. We compared death rates from breast cancer among socioeconomic groups in a prospective study of 533,276 Norwegian women aged 35–54 years who were followed from 1970 through 1985. Compared with the reference group (wives of unskilled workers) the fishermen's wives had a decreased risk of breast cancer with a relative risk (RR) of 0.67 (95% confidence interval [CI]=0.47−0.94) adjusted for age and the number of children. Among fishermen's wives who were parous, adjustment for age at first birth gave an RR of 0.62 (CI=0.43–0.91). This study supports the hypothesis that certain aspects of diet, i. e., fish consumption, may be associated with lower breast-cancer mortality.

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Authors
  1. Eiliv Lund
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  2. Kaare H. Bønaa
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Additional information

Drs Lund and Bønaa are with the Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway. Address correspondence to Dr Lund, Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway.

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Lund, E., Bønaa, K.H. Reduced breast cancer mortality among fishermen's wives in Norway. Cancer Causes Control 4, 283–287 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00051323

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