title: Weight, height, body mass index and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women: a case-control study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many women in Iran have a relatively high body mass index. To investigate whether the condition contributes to excess breast cancer cases, a case-control study was conducted to assess the relationships between anthropometric variables and breast cancer risk in Tehran, Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  All incident cases of breast cancer in the Iranian Centre for Breast Cancer (ICBC) were identified through the case records. Eligible cases were all postmenopausal women with histological confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer during 1996 to year 2000. Controls were randomly selected postmenopausal women attending the ICBC for clinical breast examination during the same period. The body mass index (BMI) was calculated based on weights and heights as measured by the ICBC nursing staff. Both tests for trend and logistic regression analysis were performed to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals as measures of relative risk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In all, 116 breast cancer cases and 116 controls were studied. There were no significant differences between cases and control with regard to most independent variables studied. However, a significant difference was observed between cases and controls indicating that the mean BMI was higher in cases as compared to controls (P = 0.004). Performing logistic regression analysis while controlling for age, age at menopause, family history of breast cancer and parity, the results showed that women with a BMI in the obese range had a three fold increased risk of breast cancer [odds ratio (OR) = 3.21, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15-8.47].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that obesity in postmenopausal women could increase risk of breast cancer and it merits further investigation in populations such as Iran where it seems that many women are short in height, and have a relatively high body mass index.
authors.affiliation: Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research, Tehran, Iran. montazeri@acecr.ac.ir
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montazeri
authors.forename: Jila
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sadighi
authors.forename: Faranak
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farzadi
authors.forename: Farzaneh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maftoon
authors.forename: Mariam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vahdaninia
authors.forename: Mariam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ansari
authors.forename: Akram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sajadian
authors.forename: Mandana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ebrahimi
authors.forename: Shahpar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haghighat
authors.forename: Iraj
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Harirchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017698:Postmenopause; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D015996:Survival Rate