Circulating lipids, mammographic density, and risk of breast cancer in the Nurses' Health Study and Nurses' Health Study II. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • PURPOSE: Epidemiologic evidence supports an association between high mammographic density and increased breast cancer risk yet etiologic mechanisms remain largely unknown. Mixed evidence exists as to whether circulating lipid levels influence mammographic density and breast cancer risk. Therefore, we examined these associations in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII), two large prospective cohorts with information on PMD and circulating lipid measures, long follow-up, and breast cancer risk factor and outcome data. METHODS: We conducted a nested case-control study among women in the NHS and NHSII. Percent mammographic density (PMD) was measured using Cumulus software, a computer-assisted method, on digitized film mammograms. Cross-sectional associations between circulating lipids [total cholesterol (n = 1,502), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C; n = 579), and triglycerides (n = 655)] and PMD were evaluated among controls. All analyses were stratified by menopausal status at time of mammogram. Relative risks for breast cancer by lipid and PMD measures were estimated among postmenopausal women in the full nested case-control study (cases/controls for cholesterol, HDL-C, and triglycerides were 937/975, 416/449, and 506/537, respectively). RESULTS: There were no significant associations between circulating lipid levels and PMD among healthy women, irrespective of menopausal status. The association between PMD and breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women was not modified by circulating lipid levels (p interaction = 0.83, 0.80, and 0.34 for total cholesterol, HDL-C, and triglycerides, respectively). CONCLUSION: Overall, no association was observed between lipid levels and PMD, and there was no evidence that lipid levels modified the association between PMD and breast cancer risk.

publication date

  • July 1, 2019

Research

keywords

  • Breast Density
  • Breast Neoplasms
  • Lipids

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC6778452

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85068789729

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1002/ijc.30013

PubMed ID

  • 31264139

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 30

issue

  • 9