Breastfeeding in relation to risk of different breast cancer characteristics.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this present study was to examine duration of breastfeeding in relation to the risk of different subgroups of breast cancer. A prospective cohort, The Malmö Diet and Cancer study, including 14092 parous women, were followed during a mean of 10.2 years and a total of 424 incident breast cancers were diagnosed.


METHODS
Tumours were classified regarding invasiveness, tumour size, axillary lymph node status, Nottingham grade, tumour proliferation (Ki67), HER2, cyclin D1 and p27, WHO histological type and hormone receptor status. Duration of breastfeeding was measured using total time of breastfeeding, categorized in quartiles using the lowest as the reference group (<4.0, ≥4.0- < 8.0, ≥8.0- < 13.0 and ≥13.0 months). Average duration of breastfeeding per child and breastfeeding duration of the first child were also used as exposures in separate analyses. Relative risks, with 95% confidence intervals, were obtained using a Cox's proportional hazards analysis adjusted for potential confounders.


RESULTS
Overall risk for breast cancer was similar in all quartiles of breastfeeding. No strong results regarding breastfeeding duration and breast cancer subgroups were seen. A few results indicated an association between a relatively long duration of breastfeeding and tumours with high proliferation (Ki67) and grade III histological grade.


CONCLUSIONS
Breastfeeding duration was not associated with breast cancer risk and no strong results were seen with regard to breast cancer subgroups.
Department of Surgery, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden. salma.butt@med.lu.se.
Salma
S
Butt
Signe
S
Borgquist
Lola
L
Anagnostaki
Göran
G
Landberg
Jonas
J
Manjer
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D019938:Cyclin D1 / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D012307:Risk Factors; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019938:Cyclin D1; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; C413374:p27 antigen; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human