Big baby girls have higher breast cancer risk

Women who were large for gestational age at birth are at increased risk of developing breast cancer before the age of 50. Using a longitudinal cohort of more than 5000 women with data on several birth characteristics, McCormack and colleagues (p 248) found that their length and head circumference at birth, adjusted for gestational age and adult risk factors, were strongly associated with breast cancer before (but not after) menopause. The association of larger size at birth with an increased risk of premenopausal breast cancer should be considered, the authors say, in light of its opposite association with ischaemic heart disease.

(Credit: ANTONIA REEVE/SPL)

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Relevant Article

Fetal growth and subsequent risk of breast cancer: results from long term follow up of Swedish cohort

V A McCormack, I dos Santos Silva, B L De Stavola, R Mohsen, D A Leon, and H O Lithell
BMJ 2003 326: 248. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]