title: Associations between breast cancer risk factors and religious practices in Utah.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Utah has the lowest female malignant breast cancer incidence rates in the United States, due in part to low rates among women who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon). Several established reproductive and non-reproductive breast cancer risk factors may be lower among LDS women because of their religious doctrine related to marriage, family, and health. This paper investigates the association between selected breast cancer risk factors and religious preference and religiosity in Utah.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 37-item anonymous cross-sectional telephone survey was developed and conducted during March and April 2002. Results are based on 848 non-Hispanic white female respondents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Number of births (parity), prevalence of breastfeeding, and lifetime total duration of breastfeeding were highest among LDS women who attended church weekly. Average months of breastfeeding per child were greatest among weekly church attendees, regardless of religious preference. Oral contraceptive use and total duration of hormone replacement therapy use were greatest for individuals of any religion attending church less than weekly and for individuals with no religious preference. Comparisons of divergent reproductive behaviors between LDS and non-LDS, and between weekly and less than weekly church goers, provide strong support for the relatively low breast cancer incidence rates previously identified among LDS and, therefore, in Utah.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High parity and breastfeeding coincide with comparatively low breast cancer incidence rates among LDS and are consistent with recent findings of the Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer, showing the primary role parity and breastfeeding play in reducing breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Daniels
authors.forename: Ray M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Merrill
authors.forename: Joseph L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Lyon
authors.forename: Joseph B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Stanford
authors.forename: George L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D034682:Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D020249:Hormone Replacement Therapy; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014589:Utah / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D003276:Contraceptives, Oral