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Perinatal factors, female breast cancer, and associated risk factors in Puerto Rico: evidence from the Atabey epidemiology of breast cancer study

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Abstract

Purpose

There is increasing evidence that exposures in utero and in infancy impact breast cancer risk. No previous studies have evaluated these associations among women in Puerto Rico.

Methods

In a population-based case–control study of breast cancer epidemiology in the San Juan metropolitan area in Puerto Rico, we examined the association of early life factors with breast cancer risk and breast cancer risk factors. Both cases (n = 315) and controls (n = 348) completed interviewer-administered questionnaires, including self-reported birth country, birthweight, and history of having been breastfed. Comparisons of characteristics of those with and without the early life factors were made with t-tests or chi-squared tests; associations between early life factors and breast cancer risk were estimated with unconditional logistic regression adjusting for age, education, body mass index (BMI), age at menarche, parity, and menopausal status.

Results

Women who had been breastfed tended to have higher adult body mass index (BMI), higher education, and lower parity (p < 0.05). Higher birthweight was associated with higher adult BMI and lower educational attainment (p < 0.05). Those born outside of Puerto Rico or the US were more likely to have higher educational attainment and earlier age at menarche than those born within Puerto Rico or the US (p < 0.05). We found no significant associations between any of the early life factors and breast cancer risk.

Conclusion

We did not find evidence of an association of early life factors with breast cancer risk among women in Puerto Rico.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

The custom code generated during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

The Atabey Epidemiology of Breast Cancer in Puerto Rico Study was supported by CDMRP Grant W81XWH-07-1-0329 BCRP HBCU/MI Partnership Training Award. The views, opinions or endorsements are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of supporting agencies. The research team acknowledges The Consortium of Clinical and Translational Research of Puerto Rico (NIMHD and NIAID Award Number 2U54MD007587), the Puerto Rico Central Cancer Registry, many collaborating physicians and their affiliated institutions, the interviewers, the community outreach worker, and the graduate students from the UPR Graduate School of Public Health who contributed to this research.

Funding

Funding Funded in part by the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (BC060131) and the National Cancer Institute (P20CA096256). The DOD and NCI had no role in the design, analysis, or writing of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, 265 Farber Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA

    Lindsey J. Mattick, Jing Nie & Jo L. Freudenheim

  2. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, Medical Sciences Campus, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR, 00936, USA

    Cruz M. Nazario & Rosa V. Rosario-Rosado

  3. Nutrition and Dietetics Program, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, PR, 00925-2537, USA

    Michelle Schelske-Santos

  4. Department of Environmental Health, Graduate School of Public Health, Medical Sciences Campus, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR, 00936, USA

    Imar Mansilla-Rivera

  5. Department of Exercise Physiology, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, PR, 00925-2537, USA

    Farah A. Ramírez-Marrero

Authors
  1. Lindsey J. Mattick
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  2. Cruz M. Nazario
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  3. Rosa V. Rosario-Rosado
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  7. Jing Nie
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  8. Jo L. Freudenheim
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Contributions

JLF, CMN, RVR-R, MS-S, IM-R, and FR-M designed and conducted the study. LJM and JLF conceptualized the specific hypotheses for this manuscript. LJM and JN performed the analyses under the supervision of JLF. LJM drafted the manuscript with the supervision of JLF. All authors edited the manuscript, reviewed the final version, and approved of its contents.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lindsey J. Mattick.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the respective internal review board (IRB) committees of the State University of New York at Buffalo and University of Puerto Rico.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Mattick, L.J., Nazario, C.M., Rosario-Rosado, R.V. et al. Perinatal factors, female breast cancer, and associated risk factors in Puerto Rico: evidence from the Atabey epidemiology of breast cancer study. Cancer Causes Control 33, 373–379 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-021-01531-0

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