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Bone mineral density and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

High bone mineral density (BMD) has been associated with increased breast cancer in prospective studies of postmenopausal women, but the real relationship is still controversial. Therefore, we undertook a meta-analysis to evaluate the association between BMD and the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. We performed systematic searches on MEDLINE, EMBASE, and OVID. Data extraction was performed independently by two reviewers. For each study, we extracted the relative risks (RRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for categorical variables and per standard deviation (SD) increases in BMD. Heterogeneity, publication bias, and subgroup analysis were performed. The analysis included 70,878 postmenopausal women from 10 studies with 1,889 breast cancers during a mean follow-up of 6 years (range 3.2–8.4 years). The summary RRs for the highest versus lowest categorical variable showed that higher BMD in the hip (RR 1.62; 95 % CI: 1.17–2.06) and in the spine (RR 1.82; 95 % CI: 1.07–2.57) were associated with a 62 and 82 % increased risk of breast cancer. Per SD, increase in hip BMD and spine BMD were also associated with a higher risk of breast cancer (RR for hip BMD 1.20; 95 % CI: 1.09–1.31 and RR for spine BMD 1.26; 95 % CI: 1.10–1.41). In this meta-analysis, a higher BMD was found to be associated with a significantly higher risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

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Acknowledgments

K. Dai and Y. Hao were supported by the Fund for Key National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2012CB619101), Major Basic Research of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (Grant No. 11DJ1400303), and Key Disciplines of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (Grant No. J50206). The funding sources had no role in the study design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of data, or writing of the report. The authors report that they have no relationships with industry to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Orthopaedic Implants, Department of Orthopaedics, Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, 639 Zhizaoju Road, Shanghai, 200011, China

    Xinhua Qu, An Qin, Guangwang Liu, Zanjing Zhai, Yongqiang Hao, Huiwu Li, Zhenan Zhu & Kerong Dai

  2. Department of Clinical Medicine, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Xiaoyu Zhang

  3. Centre for Orthopaedic Research, School of Surgery, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

    An Qin

  4. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Central Hospital of Xuzhou, Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Southeast University, Xuzhou, China

    Guangwang Liu

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  1. Xinhua Qu
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Correspondence to Kerong Dai.

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Xinhua Qu, Xiaoyu Zhang and An Qin contributed equally to this study.

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Qu, X., Zhang, X., Qin, A. et al. Bone mineral density and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Breast Cancer Res Treat 138, 261–271 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-013-2431-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-013-2431-3

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