A possible link between prenatal exposure to famine and breast cancer: a preliminary study

R C Painter1, S R De Rooij, P M M Bossuyt

  • 1Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

In a study of 475 women born around the 1944-1945 Dutch famine, women exposed to prenatal famine more often reported a history of breast cancer than nonexposed women (hazard ratio, 2.6; 95% confidence interval, 0.9-7.7). They also had alterations in reproductive risk factors. Prenatal famine may increase breast cancer incidence.