title: Risk of primary non-breast cancer after female breast cancer by age at diagnosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Women diagnosed with breast cancer at young age have been shown to be at higher risk of developing a new primary cancer than women diagnosed at older ages, but little is known about whether adjustment for calendar year of breast cancer diagnosis, length of follow-up, and/or breast cancer treatment alters the risk pattern by age.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified 304,703 women diagnosed with breast cancer during 1943 to 2006 in the Cancer Registries of Denmark, Norway, and Finland. Relative risks (RR) of subsequent non-breast cancer by age at cancer diagnosis were calculated using Poisson regression models adjusted for country, calendar period, length of follow-up, and treatment. Excess absolute risks (EAR) were also calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The RR for all cancer sites except breast cancer decreased with increasing age both with and without adjustments. The RR and the EAR differed for each age at diagnosis category until the women reached their late 70s. Many specific cancer forms contributed to the overall risk pattern by age with endometrial cancer as 1 exception.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The age at breast cancer diagnosis is an essential risk factor for being diagnosed with a new primary non-breast cancer and the level of risk for specific ages at diagnosis may hold for many years after the diagnosis. Occurrence of endometrial cancer after breast cancer seems to follow a distinct age pattern different from that seen for most other cancer types.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Future studies should aim at exploring the underlying explanations for the age-related findings.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark. lene@cancer.dk
authors.forename: Lene
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mellemkjær
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Frederiksen
authors.forename: Eero
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pukkala
authors.forename: Elisabete
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Weiderpass
authors.forename: Freddie
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bray
authors.forename: Søren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Friis
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Jørgen H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Olsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors