Obesity associated with increased postmenopausal invasive breast cancer risk

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

Obesity is associated with increased risk for invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women, a new study published online ahead of print in JAMA Oncology has shown.

For the secondary analysis, researchers sought to investigate the associations of overweight and obesity with the risk of developing postmenopausal invasive breast cancer after a long follow-up in the Women's Health Initiative studies.

Researchers analyzed data from 67,142 postmenopausal women ages 50 to 79 years. Patients were followed for a median of 13 years. During that time, 3,388 patients were diagnosed with invasive breast cancers.

Results showed that women who were overweight and obese had an increased risk for developing invasive breast cancer compared with those of normal weight. Researchers found that women with a BMI of 35.0 or higher was strongly associated with risk of developing estrogen receptor-positive and progesterone receptor-negative breast cancers.

The findings suggest that more strategies should be developed to prevent obesity in postmenopausal women.