Childbearing recency and modifiers of premenopausal breast cancer risk

The purpose of this study was to examine the risk of premenopausal breast cancer for women in relation to childbearing recency and whether this association differs by breast-feeding history and/or the amount of weight gained during pregnancy. This analysis was based on data from a population-based case-control study composed of 1,706 incident cases of invasive breast cancer and 1,756 population controls from Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. In a telephone interview conducted from 1996 to 2001, information was gathered on established breast cancer risk factors, as well as reproductive history, including amount of weight gained during the last full-term pregnancy and whether the child was breast-fed. Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and Wald 95% confidence intervals for the risk of breast cancer. When compared with nulliparous women, women that had given birth within the past 5 years before breast cancer diagnosis in the cases or a comparable period in controls had a nonsignificant 35% increased risk of invasive breast cancer (odds ratio, 1.35; 95% confidence interval, 0.90-2.04), adjusting for age and known breast cancer risk factors (Ptrend = 0.14). We did not find a significant interaction with breast-feeding (Pinteraction = 0.30) or pregnancy weight gain (Pinteraction = 0.09).