title: Risk of breast cancer, diet and internal migrations in northern Italy.
abstract: The protective effect of birth in southern Italy as opposed to other regions was evaluated in a population-based case-control study of diet and breast cancer among residents in the province of Vercelli. Cases were 250 women with breast cancer diagnosed during 1983-1984 and controls 499 women randomly selected from the general population. The crude relative risk of breast cancer for women born in the south was 0.76 (95% confidence interval, 0.43-1.3). After adjustment for dietary and other potential confounders in multivariate analyses, the protective effect of place of birth disappeared (RR 1.0; 95% CI, 0.57-1.9). The study indicates that north-south differences in the incidence of breast cancer in Italy may in large part be attributed to different dietary habits.
authors.affiliation: Servizio di Epidemiologia, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milano.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Toniolo
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Protta
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Cappa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D014171:Transients and Migrants