Case-Control Study of Body Size and Breast Cancer Risk in Nigerian Women

Previous studies have shown that weight is inversely associated with premenopausal breast cancer and positively associated with postmenopausal disease. Height has been shown to be positively correlated with breast cancer risk, but the association was not conclusive for premenopausal women. These previous studies were conducted primarily in Western countries, where height is not limited by nutritional status during childhood. The authors assessed the association between breast cancer and anthropometric measures in the Nigerian Breast Cancer Study (Ibadan, Nigeria). Between 1998 and 2009, 1,233 invasive breast cancer cases and 1,101 controls were recruited. The multivariate-adjusted odds ratio for the highest quartile group of height relative to the lowest was 2.03 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.51, 2.72; P-trend < 0.001), with an odds ratio of 1.22 (95% CI: 1.14, 1.32) for each 5-cm increase, with no difference by menopausal status. Comparing women with a body mass index in the lowest quartile group, the adjusted odds ratio for women in the highest quartile category was 0.72 (95% CI: 0.54, 0.94; P-trend = 0.009) for premenopausal and post-menopausal women. Influence of height on breast cancer risk was quite strong in this cohort of indigenous Africans, which suggests that energy intake during childhood may be important in breast cancer development.