title: The hormonal profile of benign breast disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Limited information exists about the endocrine milieu of benign breast disease (BBD), a documented breast cancer risk factor. We compared blood levels of estrogens, testosterone and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) between BBD patients by histological type and women without breast pathology.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 578 BBD patients and 178 healthy women in Athens, Greece, who provided blood samples, and completed interviewer-administered questionnaires.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the BBD patients, 254 had non-proliferative disease, 268 proliferative disease without atypia and 56 atypical hyperplasia. Comparing BBD patients with healthy women, the per cent differences (and 95% confidence intervals) for blood hormones, among pre-menopausal and peri/post-menopausal women, respectively, were: 22.4% (-4.0%, 56.1%) and 32.0% (5.6%, 65.1%) for estradiol; 26.2% (10.1%, 44.8%) and 30.9% (16.8%, 46.6%) for estrone; 19.5% (3.1%, 38.4%) and 16.5% (-5.0%, 42.9%) for testosterone; and -5.2% (-13.8%, 4.4%) and -12.1% (-19.8%, -3.6%) for IGF-1. Steroid hormones tended to be higher in proliferative compared with non-proliferative BBD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Circulating steroid hormones tend to be higher among women with BBD than women with no breast pathology and higher in proliferative than non-proliferative disease; these patterns are more evident among peri/post-menopausal women. In peri/post-menopausal women IGF-1 was lower among women with BBD compared with healthy women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, University of Athens Medical School, 75 M. Asias Street, Goudi GR-115 27, Greece.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Samoli
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Trichopoulos
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lagiou
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zourna
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Georgila
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Minaki
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barbouni
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vassilarou
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsikkinis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sfikas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spanos
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lagiou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001941:Breast Diseases; D004967:Estrogens / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D013739:Testosterone; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I