Lactation and the risk of breast cancer

Some factors are suggested to have an association with an increased risk of breast cancer, which are called risk factors. Lactation is one of the risk factors that still needs to be studied because of conflicting findings in epidemiological studies and also uncertainty regarding biologic plausibility. Our objective was to study the relationship between lactation and the risk of breast cancer. A pair of unmatched case control studies was held among parous women at Dr. Soetomo Hospital (general hospital) and some private hospitals in the Surabaya municipality. There are 219 (51.9%) cases and 203 (48.1%) controls analyzed in this study. Age, age at menarche, regular menstruation and number of parity between both groups are not statistical different. When we divided the age at menarche (below 13), it was statistically different. The cases consisted of more women with menarche below 13 (p = 0.00038). Other factors showing statistical differences in the risk of breast cancer between case and control are age at first delivery, family history of breast cancer and age at menopause. Women who have lactated (more than 4-month duration of breast feeding) show a "protective effect" against breast cancer, OR 0.57 (95% CI 0.33-0.99). However, there was no clear duration of lactation and the risk of breast cancer. Logistic regression analysis showed that lactation was not any independent factor. Lactation exerts a "protective effect" against breast cancer. However, the duration of lactation did not show an influence in reducing the risk of breast cancer, and logistic regression analysis did not show that lactation was an independent factor in the risk of breast cancer.