Abstract 640: Age of menarche and height as adolescent growth in relation to breast cancer risk

Abstract

Abstract Age of menarche as well as height is known to be associated with breast cancer risk. Adult height is associated with age at menarche, which may explain that growth in height accelerates driven by hormone changes during adolescence. The authors evaluated associations between the age of menarche and height as the adolescent growth indicator and breast cancer risk among 3,725 cases and 3,748 controls enrolled in a multicenter, case-control study in Korea, Seoul Breast Cancer Study (2001-2007). Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) of age at menarche (<=13, 14-15, and 16+ years) and quintile of height calculated in each 10-year age group based on total participants for breast cancer risk. The associations were assessed in overall and in strata of menopausal status, birth year group (median, 1957) and hormone receptor status. Early menarche and taller height increased risk of breast cancer as expected; for both premenopausal and postmenopausal women, those starting menarche at 13 years or younger had 1.3-fold (95% CI: 1.1-1.6 for premenopausal women and 1.0-1.7 for postmenopausal women, respectively) comparing to women starting menarche at 16 years or older. In contrast, the association between height and breast cancer risk was different between menopausal status; women with 5th quintile in each age group had 2.1-fold (95% CI: 1.6-2.7) comparing to women with 1st quintile among postmenopausal women, however, associations were absent among premenopausal women. Age at menarche, height and birth year were highly correlated with each other; age at menarche and height increased as the birth year increased significantly. The associations of age at menarche and height on breast cancer in the strata of birth year group were similar with the associations in the menopausal status. Although cases with hormone receptor positive increased as the birth year increased, the ORs of age at menarche and height did not vary significantly by hormone receptor status. These findings suggest that age at menarche and adult height is associated with breast cancer overall, particularly among postmenopausal women or women born prior to 1957. This may result from the chronological changes of adolescent growth in Korea. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 640. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-640