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  • Original Article
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Hip circumference is associated with the risk of premenopausal ER−/PR− breast cancer

International Journal of Obesity volume 36, pages 431–439 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

We evaluated the relationship between hip and waist circumferences (HCs, WCs), waist-to-hip ratio, height, weight and body mass index (BMI) and breast cancer risk according to menopausal status of women and cancer hormone receptor status.

Design:

We used data from the French E3N longitudinal prospective cohort.

Subjects:

In the total population of 63 726 women who were analyzed, 1887 breast cancer cases were diagnosed during follow-up.

Results:

Among postmenopausal women, the risk of ER+/PR+ breast cancer increased with increasing weight, BMI, and both HCs and WCs, although these two associations disappeared after adjustment for BMI. No association was seen with ER−/PR− breast cancers. Among premenopausal women, among the different factors studied, HC only (no association was observed for any of the different factors studied except for HC) was associated with an increased risk of ER+/PR+ breast cancer after adjustment for BMI (hazard ratio (HR)=1.65; (1.04–2.62) when comparing the highest to lowest tertile; P-trend across tertiles=0.03) and of ER−/PR− breast cancer both before and after adjustment for BMI (HR=2.85 (1.33–6.13); P-trend <0.01, and HR=3.13 (1.19–8.27) P-trend =0.02, respectively). In the latter group, the association with HC was observed whatever the WC (HR=2.81 (1.18–6.70) and HR=2.79 (1.16–6.76) in women with high HC/low WC and high HC/high WC, respectively).

Conclusion:

The increase in risk of premenopausal breast cancer associated with large HC for both ER+/PR+ and ER−/PR− subtypes may provide insight into a specific risk factor for premenopausal breast cancer.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to all participants for providing data and to practitioners for providing pathology reports. The authors are grateful to Jerri Bram for her assistance with the English and to the E3N group. This work was supported by the Institut National du Cancer, the Mutuelle Générale de l’Education Nationale, the Institut de Cancérologie Gustave Roussy and the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale. Guy Fagherazzi was funded by the French Ministry of Research. Alban Fabre was funded by the Cancéropôle – Région Ile de France. The study sponsors had no role in the design of the study, analysis or interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale), Center for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health (CESP), Villejuif Cedex, France

    G Fagherazzi, A Fabre, G Guillas, M-C Boutron-Ruault, S Mesrine & F Clavel-Chapelon

  2. Paris-South University, Villejuif Cedex, France

    G Fagherazzi, A Fabre, G Guillas, M-C Boutron-Ruault, S Mesrine & F Clavel-Chapelon

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, AP-HP Hospital Tenon and UMR S938 University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France

    N Chabbert-Buffet

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  1. G Fagherazzi
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Correspondence to F Clavel-Chapelon.

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Fagherazzi, G., Chabbert-Buffet, N., Fabre, A. et al. Hip circumference is associated with the risk of premenopausal ER−/PR− breast cancer. Int J Obes 36, 431–439 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2011.66

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