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Association Between Parity and Obesity in Mexican and Mexican–American Women: Findings from the Ella Binational Breast Cancer Study

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Abstract

Obesity at diagnosis of breast cancer is associated with higher all-cause mortality and treatment-associated toxicities. We evaluated the association between parity and obesity in the Ella study, a population of Mexican and Mexican–American breast cancer patients with high parity. Obesity outcomes included body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m2, waist circumference (WC) ≥35 in (88 cm), and waist-to-hip-ratio (WHR) ≥0.85. Prevalence of obesity ([BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m2) was 38.9 %. For WC, the multivariate odds ratio (OR) (95 % confidence interval [CI]) for having WC ≥ 35 inches in women with ≥4 pregnancies relative to those with 1–2 pregnancies was 1.59 (1.01–2.47). Higher parity (≥4 pregnancies) was non-significantly associated with high BMI (OR = 1.10; 95 % CI 0.73–1.67). No positive association was observed for WHR. Our results suggest WC is independently associated with high parity in Hispanic women and may be an optimal target for post-partum weight loss interventions.

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to Ana Lilia Amador, Leticia Cordova, Carole Kepler, Giovanna Cruz, Rachel Zenuk Garcia, and Fang Wang for their contributions. Grant support: Avon Foundation, Arizona Cancer Center Core Grant from the National Cancer Institute (CA-023074-2953), M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Specialized Program of Research Excellence in Breast Cancer (P50 CA116199-02S1), and Susan G. Komen for the Cure® (KG090934).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moores UCSD Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, 3855 Health Sciences Drive, #0901, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0901, USA

    María Elena Martínez & Jesse N. Nodora

  2. Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Erika Pond & Elizabeth T. Jacobs

  3. Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Erika Pond, Betsy C. Wertheim, Elizabeth T. Jacobs & Patricia Thompson

  4. Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Melissa Bondy

  5. Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

    Adrian Daneri-Navarro

  6. Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora, Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico

    Maria Mercedes Meza-Montenegro

  7. Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

    Luis Enrique Gutierrez-Millan

  8. Department of Clinical Cancer Prevention, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Abenaa Brewster

  9. Department of Surgery, Maricopa Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Ian K. Komenaka

  10. Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Patricia Thompson

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  1. María Elena Martínez
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  2. Erika Pond
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Correspondence to María Elena Martínez.

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Martínez, M.E., Pond, E., Wertheim, B.C. et al. Association Between Parity and Obesity in Mexican and Mexican–American Women: Findings from the Ella Binational Breast Cancer Study. J Immigrant Minority Health 15, 234–243 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-012-9649-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-012-9649-8

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