Abstract
Background: The use of self-reported body size as an alternative tool to estimate body weight for health risk assessment is not widely reported, especially in relation to breast cancer. Therefore, we examined the association between breast cancer and body-mass index (BMI) and the usefulness of pictograms. Methods: The case–control study was conducted among postmenopausal women from 2015 to 2019. The study involved 151 women with breast cancer and 67 control subjects. Data were collected by a self-reported detailed questionnaire. Results: An increased, 4.13-fold risk of breast cancer (OR = 4.13; 95% CI [1.69, 10.28]) was observed for women with BMI 25.0–29.9 kg/m2 compared to women with normal BMI (18.5–24.9 kg/m2), whereas the association in the case of obese women was not statistically significant. An increased risk of breast cancer was observed for pictogram scores 3–4 (OR = 8.95; 95% CI [3.22, 24.88]) and for the highest level of self-reported body size, pictograms ≥ 5 (OR = 3.20; 95% CI [1.13, 9.09]). Conclusions: The risk of breast cancer is associated with an increased BMI and visual overweigh and obesity. The results suggest that a self-reporting alternative tool can be used to assess the prevalence of overweight/obesity, particularly in situations where no other tools are available.
Highlights
Academic Editors: Benoît ChénaisOverweight and obesity besides factors such as social history, childhood experiences, mental health, socioeconomic status are mainly caused by modifiable risk factors that can be reduced or controlled
The results of our study showed that self-reported body-size pictograms were associated with increased breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women
Postmenopausal women with overweigh and obesity are at increased risk of breast cancer
Summary
Overweight and obesity besides factors such as social history, childhood experiences, mental health, socioeconomic status are mainly caused by modifiable risk factors that can be reduced or controlled. The number of overweight and obese people is growing all the time. Obesity is considered a top public health concern and the number of people with obese has almost tripled since 1975, worldwide [1]. According to WHO more than 1.9 billion adults (39%) were overweight and over 650 million (13%) were obese in. Epidemiological studies have found that the prevalence of obesity increased from. 8.9% to 14.8% in 2015 in women and from 5% to 10.1% in men. It was observed that the rise in the prevalence of overweight and obesity was always greater in women than in men, and was greatest between 1992 and 2002.
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