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Association between mammographic density and pregnancies relative to age and BMI: a breast cancer case-only analysis

  • Preclinical study
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Percentage mammographic density (PMD) is a major risk factor for breast cancer (BC). It is strongly associated with body mass index (BMI) and age, which are themselves risk factors for breast cancer. This analysis investigated the association between the number of full-term pregnancies and PMD in different subgroups relative to age and BMI.

Methods

Patients were identified in the breast cancer database of the University Breast Center for Franconia. A total of 2410 patients were identified, for whom information on parity, age, and BMI, and a mammogram from the time of first diagnosis were available for assessing PMD. Linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate the influence on PMD of the number of full-term pregnancies (FTPs), age, BMI, and interaction terms between them.

Results

As in previous studies, age, number of FTPs, and BMI were found to be associated with PMD in the expected direction. However, including the respective interaction terms improved the prediction of PMD even further. Specifically, the association between PMD and the number of FTPs differed in young patients under the age of 45 (mean decrease of 0.37 PMD units per pregnancy) from the association in older age groups (mean decrease between 2.29 and 2.39 PMD units). BMI did not alter the association between PMD and the number of FTPs.

Conclusions

The effect of pregnancies on mammographic density does not appear to become apparent before the age of menopause. The mechanism that drives the effect of pregnancies on mammographic density appears to be counter-regulated by other influences on mammographic density in younger patients.

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Acknowledgements

KH was in part funded by the ELAN (“Erlangener Leistungsbezogene Anschubfinanzierung und Nachwuchsförderung”) funding program at Erlangen University Hospital.

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Author notes

  1. Carolin C. Hack and Julius Emons have contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Erlangen University Hospital, Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen/European Metropolitan Area Nuremberg (CCC ER-EMN), Universitätsstrasse 21-23, 91054, Erlangen, Germany

    Carolin C. Hack, Julius Emons, Sebastian M. Jud, Katharina Heusinger, Paul Gass, Lothar Haeberle, Felix Heindl, Alexander Hein, Matthias W. Beckmann & Peter A. Fasching

  2. Institute of Biometry and Epidemiology, Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Werner Adler

  3. Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, Erlangen University Hospital, Erlangen, Germany

    Rüdiger Schulz-Wendtland & Michael Uder

  4. Institute of Pathology, Erlangen University Hospital, Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen/European Metropolitan Area Nuremberg (CCC ER-EMN), Erlangen, Germany

    Arndt Hartmann

  5. Practice of Dr. Pöhls, Women’s Health Center of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Uwe G. Pöhls

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  1. Carolin C. Hack
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Contributions

CCH, PAF, and SMJ contributed to the conception of the current analysis, and all of the authors were involved in the design and acquisition of data for the study. WA performed the statistical analysis. LH performed data management. PAF, SMJ, and LH contributed to the analysis and interpretation of the data. CCH, PAF, MWB, and UGP drafted the manuscript. All the authors revised the final draft critically for important content. All of the authors have given final approval of the version to be published.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter A. Fasching.

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Conflict of interest

PAF has received honoraria from Amgen, Celgene, Roche, Pfizer, Genomic Health, Novartis, and Teva. PG has received honoraria from Novartis. PAF has carried out research for Novartis and Amgen. All the other authors declare that they do not have any conflicts of interest.

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Hack, C.C., Emons, J., Jud, S.M. et al. Association between mammographic density and pregnancies relative to age and BMI: a breast cancer case-only analysis. Breast Cancer Res Treat 166, 701–708 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-017-4446-7

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