The influence of metabolic factors and ethnicity on breast cancer risk, treatment and survival: The Oslo ethnic breast cancer study

Abstract

Background Breast cancer risk remains higher in high-income compared with low-income countries. However, it is unclear to what degree metabolic factors influence breast cancer development in women 30 years after immigration from low- to a high-incidence country. Methods Using Cox regression models, we studied the association between pre-diagnostic metabolic factors and breast cancer development, and whether this association varied by ethnicity among 13,802 women participating in the population-based Oslo Ethnic Breast Cancer Study. Ethnic background was assessed and pre-diagnostic metabolic factors (body mass index, waist:hip ratio, serum lipids and blood pressure) were measured. A total of 557 women developed invasive breast cancer, and these women were followed for an additional 7.7 years. Results Among women with an unfavorable metabolic profile, women from south Asia, compared with western European women, had a 2.3 times higher breast cancer risk (HR 2.30, 95% CI 1.18–4.49). Compared with the western European women, the ethnic minority women were more likely to present with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) (OR 2.11, 95% CI 0.97–4.61), and less likely to complete all courses of planned taxane treatment (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.08–0.82). Among TNBC women, above-median triglycerides:HDL-cholesterol (>0.73) levels, compared with below-median triglycerides:HDL-cholesterol (≤0.73) levels, was associated with 2.9 times higher overall mortality (HR 2.88, 95% CI 1.02–8.11). Conclusions Our results support the importance of metabolic factors when balancing breast cancer prevention and disease management among all women, and in particular among non-western women migrating from a breast cancer low-incidence to a high-incidence country.