Risk of breast cancer in relation to anthropometry, blood pressure, blood lipids and glucose metabolism: a prospective study within the Malmo Preventive Project

Insulin resistance may be a risk factor for breast cancer, possibly through increased levels of oestrogens or insulin-like growth factor I. Insulin resistance has been associated with obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and impaired glucose tolerance, We studied the relation of these factors to breast cancer risk in a prospective cohort study of 9738 women. Menopausal status was defined a priori, and 112 cases of invasive breast carcinoma occurred in women who were premenopausal at baseline and 157 cases in subjects who were peri/postmenopausal, Relative risks (RR) for breast cancer were calculated by Cox's proportional hazards analysis for different quartiles of height, weight, body mass index, blood pressure, pulse rate and serum levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting blood glucose and glucose at 120 min after an oral dose of glucose. Peri/postmenopausal women had a significantly increased age-adjusted relative risk of breast cancer associated with height (RR = 1.78 for the highest versus lowest quartile), and the RR was increased over quartiles of cholesterol levels (P-value for trend: 0.05). No other significant associations were found. Adjustments for potential confounding factors or restriction of the analysis to cases and person-years before 55 years of age (premenopausal women), or after 55 years (peri/postmenopausal women), did not change these results. (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.