Assessing the Correlation between Allostatic Load and False-Positive Image-Guided Breast Biopsies

Allostatic load (AL) is the accumulation of physiological dysregulation attributed to repeated activation of the stress response over a lifetime. We assessed the utility of AL as a prognostic measure for high-risk benign breast biopsy pathology results. Eligible patients were women 18 years or older, with a false-positive outpatient breast biopsy between January and December 2022 at a tertiary academic health center. AL was calculated using 12 variables representing four physiological systems: cardiovascular (pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein); metabolic (body mass index, albumin, and hemoglobin A1C); renal (creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate); and immune (white blood cell count). Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between AL before biopsy and breast biopsy outcomes controlling for patients' sociodemographics. In total, 170 women were included (mean age, 54.1 ± 12.9 years): 89.4% had benign and 10.6% had high-risk pathologies (radial scar/complex sclerosing lesion, atypical ductal or lobular hyperplasia, flat epithelial atypia, intraductal papilloma, or lobular carcinoma in-situ). A total of 56.5% were White, 24.7% Asian, and 17.1% other races. A total of 32.5% identified as Hispanic. The mean breast cancer risk score using the Tyrer-Cuzick model was 11.9 ± 7.0. In multivariable analysis, with every one unit increase in AL, the probability of high-risk pathology increased by 37% (odds ratio, 1.37; 95% confidence interval, 1.03, 1.81; p = 0.03). No significant association was seen between high-risk pathology and age, ethnicity, breast cancer risk, or area deprivation index. Our findings support that increased AL, a biological marker of stress, is associated with high-risk pathology among patients with false-positive breast biopsy results.