J Prev Med Public Health.  2013 Nov;46(6):346-352.

Association of Selected Medical Conditions With Breast Cancer Risk in Korea

• Jung SJ
• Song M
• Choi JY
• Song N
• Park SK
• Yoo KY
• Kang D

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
To estimate the effect of medical conditions in the population of Korea on breast cancer risk in a case-control study.
METHODS
The cases were 3242 women with incident, histologically confirmed breast cancer in two major hospitals interviewed between 2001 and 2007. The controls were 1818 women each admitted to either of those two hospitals for a variety of non-neoplastic conditions. Information on each disease was obtained from a standardized questionnaire by trained personnel. Odds ratios (ORs) for each disease were derived from multiple logistic regression adjusted for age, age of menarche, pregnancy, age of first pregnancy, and family history of breast cancer.
RESULTS
Among all of the incident breast cancer patients, pre-existing diabetes (OR, 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99 to 1.78), hypertension (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.18 to 1.83), thyroid diseases (OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.58), and ovarian diseases (OR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.23 to 2.35) were associated with an increased risk of breast cancer when other factors were adjusted for. In a stratified analysis by menopausal status, pre-existing hypertension (pre-menopause OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.48 to 1.34 vs. post-menopause OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.44 to 2.43; p-heterogeneity <0.01) and ovarian disease (pre-menopause OR, 4.20; 95% CI, 1.91 to 9.24 vs. post-menopause OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.91; p-heterogeneity 0.01) showed significantly different risks of breast cancer.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest the possibility that medical conditions such as hypertension affect breast cancer development, and that this can differ by menopausal status. Our study also indicates a possible correlation between ovarian diseases and breast cancer risk.

Keyword

Breast neoplasms; Diabetes mellitus; Hypertension; Ovarian diseases; Menopause

MeSH Terms

Age Factors
Breast Neoplasms/complications/*epidemiology
Case-Control Studies
Diabetes Complications
Female
Humans
Hypertension/complications
Interviews as Topic
Menarche
Middle Aged
Odds Ratio
Ovarian Diseases/complications
Postmenopause
Pregnancy
Premenopause
Republic of Korea
Risk Factors