The age at first pregnancy seemingly builds up risk of obesity as well as a certain type of breast cancer. A groundbreaking study led by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health asserts that having kids later in life or not at all, together with obesity raises chances of developing breast cancer. The link between age at conceiving and breast cancer may be strong among women who never had children or those who waited until 30 or later to have a baby.
The study comprised approximately 50,000 women born between 1912 and 1986 among which 29,000 were diagnosed with breast cancer. Those aged 30 or older while conceiving their first child or never had a kid reported a 2.5 percent elevation in lobular breast cancer. Ductal breast cancer apparently is the most common kind of breast cancer, but lobular and mixed ductal-lobular breast cancer cases rapidly increased in the 1990s and account for 20 percent of all breast cancer events.
“Our research found obese women who never had children or had children at 30 or later have a three times greater risk of developing lobular breast cancer. There already is strong evidence that obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and alcohol use can be risk factors for breast cancer. Those are all risk factors that women can modify,” highlighted Polly Newcomb from the Carbone Cancer Center.
Since lobular breast cancer begins in the lobules where breast milk is produced, it may be difficult to identify on a mammogram. Ductal breast cancer, on the other hand, starts in the lining of a milk duct and is easier to detect. Authors assume that postmenopausal hormone replacement is linked with risk of lobular breast cancer.
The study was published in the journal Cancer.