Leg length, sitting height and postmenopausal breast cancer risk

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Human Physiology
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Height is a known risk factor for breast cancer.
• Previous studies have not differentiated between body segment contributions to height.
• This study examines leg length and sitting height in relation to breast cancer risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between decomposed height measurements (leg length and sitting height) and breast cancer risk.
• To determine if leg length is more strongly associated with breast cancer than sitting height.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the prospective Danish cohort 'Diet, Cancer and Health'.
• Included 23,864 postmenopausal women recruited between 1993-1997.
• Followed participants for breast cancer diagnosis through 2009 using the Danish Cancer Registry.

Main Results:

• A 5 cm increase in total height was associated with a 1.11 increased rate ratio for breast cancer.
• A 5 cm increase in leg length showed a 1.09 increased rate ratio.
• A 5 cm increase in sitting height showed a 1.14 increased rate ratio, with no significant difference between leg length and sitting height associations.

Conclusions:

• Neither leg length nor sitting height appears to be more strongly associated with breast cancer risk than the other.
• Both body segment contributions to height are similarly linked to postmenopausal breast cancer incidence.