The association of age at menarche and adult height with mammographic density in the International Consortium of Mammographic Density

Sarah V. Ward, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
Anya Burton, Environment and Lifestyle Epidemiology Branch, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 Cours Albert Thomas, 69372, Lyon Cedex 08, France.
Rulla M. Tamimi, Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, USA.
Ana Pereira, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Maria Luisa Garmendia, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Marina Pollan, Cancer and Environmental Epidemiology Unit, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
Norman Boyd, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Isabel Dos-Santos-Silva, Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Gertraud Maskarinec, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI, USA.
Beatriz Perez-Gomez, Cancer and Environmental Epidemiology Unit, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
Celine Vachon, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
Hui Miao, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore City, Singapore.
Martín Lajous, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Ruy López-Ridaura, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Kimberly Bertrand, Slone Epidemiology Center at, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Ava Kwong, Division of Breast Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong, China.
Giske Ursin, Cancer Registry of Norway, Oslo, Norway.
Eunjung Lee, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
Huiyan Ma, Department of Population Sciences, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA.
Sarah Vinnicombe, Division of Cancer Research, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, UK.
Sue Moss, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
Steve Allen, Department of Imaging, Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
Rose Ndumia, Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya.
Sudhir Vinayak, Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya.
Soo-Hwang Teo, Breast Cancer Research Group, University Malaya Medical Centre, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Shivaani Mariapun, Cancer Research Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.
Beata Peplonska, Department of Environmental Epidemiology, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland.
Agnieszka Bukowska-Damska, Department of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Clinical Immunology,, Medical University of Lodz., Łódź, Poland.
Chisato Nagata, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu University, Gifu, Japan.
John Hopper, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Graham Giles, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Vahit Ozmen, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

7-14-2022

Journal

Breast cancer research : BCR

Volume

24

Issue

1

DOI

10.1186/s13058-022-01545-9

Keywords

Breast cancer; Height; Mammographic density; Menarche

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Early age at menarche and tall stature are associated with increased breast cancer risk. We examined whether these associations were also positively associated with mammographic density, a strong marker of breast cancer risk. METHODS: Participants were 10,681 breast-cancer-free women from 22 countries in the International Consortium of Mammographic Density, each with centrally assessed mammographic density and a common set of epidemiologic data. Study periods for the 27 studies ranged from 1987 to 2014. Multi-level linear regression models estimated changes in square-root per cent density (√PD) and dense area (√DA) associated with age at menarche and adult height in pooled analyses and population-specific meta-analyses. Models were adjusted for age at mammogram, body mass index, menopausal status, hormone therapy use, mammography view and type, mammographic density assessor, parity and height/age at menarche. RESULTS: In pooled analyses, later age at menarche was associated with higher per cent density (β = 0.023 SE = 0.008, P = 0.003) and larger dense area (β = 0.032 SE = 0.010, P = 0.002). Taller women had larger dense area (β = 0.069 SE = 0.028, P = 0.012) and higher per cent density (β = 0.044, SE = 0.023, P = 0.054), although the observed effect on per cent density depended upon the adjustment used for body size. Similar overall effect estimates were observed in meta-analyses across population groups. CONCLUSIONS: In one of the largest international studies to date, later age at menarche was positively associated with mammographic density. This is in contrast to its association with breast cancer risk, providing little evidence of mediation. Increased height was also positively associated with mammographic density, particularly dense area. These results suggest a complex relationship between growth and development, mammographic density and breast cancer risk. Future studies should evaluate the potential mediation of the breast cancer effects of taller stature through absolute breast density.

Department

School of Medicine and Health Sciences Resident Works

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