Body fatness during childhood and adolescence and breast density in young women: a prospective analysis

IntroductionOverweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with reduced breast cancer risk, independent of adult body mass index (BMI). These associations may be mediated through breast density. Methods: We prospectively examined associations of early life body fatness with adult breast density measured by MRI in 182 women in the Dietary Intervention Study in Children (DISC) who were ages 25–29 at follow-up. Height, weight, and other factors were measured at baseline (ages 8–10) and annual clinic visits through adolescence. We used linear mixed-effects models to quantify associations of percent breast density and dense and non-dense breast volume at ages 25–29 with quartiles of age-specific youth body mass index (BMI) Z-scores, adjusting for clinic, treatment group, current adult BMI, and other well-established risk factors for breast cancer and predictors of breast density. Results: We observed inverse associations between age-specific BMI Z-scores at all youth clinic visits and percent breast density, adjusting for current adult BMI and other covariates (all p values
Source: Breast Cancer Research - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research