Maternal breast cancer risk after the death of a child.
The possible association between a severe traumatic life event (death of a child) and breast cancer risk was examined in a case-control study nested within a nation-wide cohort in Sweden. Our study population included 27,571 women with breast cancer and 141,798 control women born between 1925-1976. After adjustment for age, parity, age at first birth and education, the overall risk estimate for breast cancer among all women that had experienced the death of a child was 1.05 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.96-1.15). Among uniparous women the corresponding odds ratio (OR) was 1.27 (95% CI = 0.98-1.64). When stratifying for child's age at death a significant risk increase was detected among women that had lost their only child when the child was between 1-4 years of age (OR = 2.65; 95% CI = 1.06-6.60). These findings do not support an overall increase in breast cancer risk after the death of a child, a severe traumatic life event. Based on a small number of subjects, our finding of an increased risk in a subgroup of uniparous women losing their only child could be due to chance.
Lambe
Mats
M
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Mats.Lambe@meb.ki.se
Cerrato
Ruha
R
Askling
Johan
J
Hsieh
Chung-Cheng
CC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001601:Bereavement; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003643:Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008016:Life Change Events; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D016017:Odds Ratio; D009863:Only Child; D012042:Registries; D012306:Risk; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*