Health

Bigger Female Babies Have Higher Risk of Breast Cancer

by Terri Potratz | September 30, 2008 at 04:22 pm

514 views | 7 Recommendations | 6 comments

Women who were born as big or long babies have an increased risk of developing breast cancer, report researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. There are few hypotheses that may account for the association between birth size and breast cancer risk, and more research is needed to probe this link.

They reviewed 32 studies covering 22,058 cases of breast cancer among more than 600,000 women living mostly in the developed world.

Pooling data from studies that drew birth size information from official birth records rather than participant self reports (notoiously less reliable as sources of historical data), the researchers found birth weight was positively associated with breast cancer risk to the extent that a 0.5 kg (1.1 lbs) increment in birth weight was linked to an estimated 7 per cent increase in risk of breast cancer.

Further analysis of data from official records also showed a positive link between breast cancer risk in adulthood with body length and head circumference at birth, with body length being the strongest predictor. The figures did not change much when the researchers took into account established breast cancer risk factors.

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Paul Conneally

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 21:02 on September 30th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff. The more we research into the risk factors the better and your own comment on hypotheses is correct - more research is needed - these trawling exercises where info is pooled and then hepotheses suggested are good starting points for focussed field work perhaps.

Paul Conneally

at 21:56 on September 30th, 2008

For those that want an in depth view the full research article is available HERE.

crookedeyebrow

at 05:43 on October 1st, 2008

Uwe Paschen

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 07:38 on October 1st, 2008

Terri Potratz, I read the study last year and it seems that part of it has to do with nutrition od the Mother as well.

Terri Potratz

at 09:57 on October 1st, 2008

Thanks for the flag Paschen. Yes, there have been studies on this before but results have been varied and somewhat inconclusive.

The mother's nutrition and health during pregnancy certainly affects birth size and the health of the child - the difficulty is in determining what specific prenatal risk factors pose a danger for future breast cancer development.