Novel Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tools for Pre- and Postmenopausal Asian Women: Development and Validation in a...

Widely used breast cancer risk-prediction tools are based on data from Western countries, but risk factors may differ for Asian women. Hence, we aimed to develop a risk assessment tool for breast cancer in Asian women using a nationwide, population-based mammographic screening cohort.

Women aged ≥ 40 years who underwent breast cancer screening and general health examination in 2009 were included. Age, body mass index (BMI), breast density, lifestyle and reproductive factors, and comorbidities were used to develop 5-year breast cancer risk-prediction models for premenopausal (n=771,856) and postmenopausal (n=1,108,047) women at baseline. The best-fit risk prediction model was constructed using backward stepwise selection in a Cox proportional hazards model and was transformed into a risk score nomogram. The performance was assessed by discrimination and calibration.

In premenopausal women, high BMI, low parity, short breastfeeding period, early age at menarche, high breast density, a history of benign breast masses, and family history of breast cancer contributed to the risk prediction of breast cancer. In postmenopausal women, age, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, late-onset menopause, and hormone replacement therapy use were additional risk predictors of breast cancer. Our risk-prediction model showed a concordant statistic of 0.58 (0.57-0.59) for premenopausal women and 0.64 (0.63-0.65) for postmenopausal women. The calibration plot demonstrated good correlations for both models.

Our breast cancer risk-prediction model demonstrated performance comparable to that of Western countries, especially among postmenopausal women. This provides a foundation for implementing risk-based screening recommendations in Asian women.