Abstract
Background
Mammographic density (MD), the proportion of radiological dense breast, has been reported to be a strong risk factor for breast cancer in many studies. Epidemiological evidence indicates that alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer. In Western countries, a positive association between alcohol consumption and MD has been reported.
Methods
To investigate the effect of alcohol consumption on MD, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis of healthy women enrolled in a breast cancer screening program at the Ebina Health Service Center, Japan, in 2012, comprising 477 premenopausal women and 308 postmenopausal women. Alcohol consumption was assessed using a self-report questionnaire. Unconditional logistic regression was applied to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) while adjusting for confounders.
Results
The study included 497 women with high breast density (HD group) and 288 women with low breast density (LD group). In all women, multivariate analysis revealed that the OR for HD was significantly increased among women with the highest alcohol intake (≥ 140 g/week of ethanol) compared with abstainers (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.2–3.9 p = 0.01). The linear trend with increasing alcohol consumption was statistically significant (p = 0.009).
Conclusion
MD was positively associated with alcohol consumption in Japanese women.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the doctors, radiologists, and nursing and technical staff of the Ebina Health Service Center. We would like to thank Editage (http://www.editage.jp) for English language editing.
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Okamoto, T., Ito, A. Association between alcohol consumption and mammographic density: a hospital-based cross-sectional study. Breast Cancer 26, 478–484 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-019-00946-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-019-00946-7