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

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Abstract
Objective: To investigate whether size at birth and rate of fetal growth influence the risk of breast cancer in adulthood. Design: Cohort identified from detailed birth records, with 97% follow up. Setting: Uppsala Academic Hospital, Sweden. Participants: 5358 singleton females born during 1915-29, alive and traced to the 1960 census. Main outcome measures: Incidence of breast cancer before (at age Results: Size at birth was positively associated with rates of breast cancer in premenopausal women. In women who weighed ≥4000 g at birth rates of breast cancer were 3.5 times (95% confidence interval 1.3 to 9.3) those in women of similar gestational age who weighed Conclusions: Size at birth, particularly length and head circumference, is associated with risk of breast cancer in women aged What is already known on this topic There is some evidence that birth weight is related to risk of breast cancer The exact nature of any association and whether it differs at premenopausal and postmenopausal ages is unclear Few studies have examined the effect of other measures of birth size and of gestational age What this study adds There are strong positive associations between measures of birth size and rates of breast cancer at premenopausal ages that persisted after adjustment for adult risk factors For a given birth size, gestational age was inversely associated with risk, suggesting that the rate of fetal growth may be aetiologically relevant to premenopausal breast cancer There was no association between birth characteristics and rates of breast cancer at postmenopausal ages