SKIRT SIZE INCREASE LINKED TO BREAST CANCER
Overall weight gain
during adulthood is known to be a risk factor for breast cancer, but a
thickening waist seems to be particularly harmful, indicating the importance of
staving off a midriff bulge, the research shows.
The researchers base
their findings on almost 93,000 women taking part in the UK Collaborative Trial
of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) in England.
The women were all
aged over 50, had gone through the menopause, and had no known breast cancer
when they entered the study between 2005 and 2010.
At enrolment they
provided detailed information on height and weight (BMI); reproductive health;
fertility; family history of breast and ovarian cancer; and use of hormonal
contraceptives and HRT, all of which influence breast cancer risk.
They were also asked
about their current skirt size, and what this had been in their 20s.
After a monitoring
period of three to four years they were asked about continuing use of HRT;
their general health; a subsequent diagnosis of cancer; and lifestyle,
including how much they smoked and drank.
Most of the women were
white, educated to university degree level, and overweight at the point of
study entry, with a BMI of 25-26.
During the monitoring
period, 1090 women developed breast cancer, giving an absolute risk of just
over 1%. As expected, infertility treatment, family history of breast/ovarian
cancer, and use of HRT were all significantly associated with a heightened risk
of being diagnosed with the disease, while pregnancies were protective.
But after taking
account of other influential factors, increases in skirt size emerged as the
strongest predictor of breast cancer risk.
At the age of 25, the
women's average skirt size had been a UK 12 (US 8; Europe 40-44), and when they
entered the study at the average age of 64, it was a 14 (US: 10; Europe 42-46).
Skirt size increased over the course of their adult lives in three out of four
of the women.
The analysis revealed
that going up one skirt size every 10 years was associated with a 33% greater
risk of developing breast cancer after the menopause; going up two skirt sizes
in the same period was associated with a 77% greater risk.
The researchers
estimate that the five year absolute risk of postmenopausal breast cancer rises
from 1 in 61 to 1 in 51 with each increase in skirt size every 10 years. Adding
BMI to the calculations did not significantly improve the prediction of risk.
As this is an
observational study, no definitive conclusions can be drawn about cause and
effect, and there is likely to have been some variation in skirt sizing over
the years, say the researchers.
But an expanding
waistline has been linked to other cancers, including those of the pancreas,
lining of the womb, and ovaries, they point out, possibly because midriff fat
is more harmful.
"Although the
exact mechanism of these relationships need to be better understood, there is a
suggestion that body fat around the waist is more metabolically active than
adipose tissue elsewhere," they write, adding that extra fat is known to
boost levels of the female hormone oestrogen, on which many breast cancer cells
rely for fuel.
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