Association of Breast Cancer and Dyslipidemia in Nepali Women

Background Breast cancer, which is a multi-factorial disease is one of the primary causes of cancer-related mortality in women. The association of serum lipids with breast cancer is being debated. Objective To examine any possible association between fasting lipid profile and breast cancer in Nepali women. Method A case-control study was conducted among 36 breast cancer patients, 40 patients with benign breast lump and 38 apparently healthy control women from February 2022 to December 2024. Ethical clearance was obtained from institutional review committee (MEMG/IRC/500/GA) prior to study. A convenient sampling technique was used. Data entry and analysis were done using SPSS version 20. Chi-square tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for statistical comparisons of categorical and continuous data respectively. P-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result Of the 114 participants included in this study, 36 were malignant breast cancer patients, 40 were benign breast lump patients and 38 controls with the mean ages of 52.75 ± 10.39, 48.45 ± 12.78 and 45.80 ± 10.14 years respectively. The prevalence of dyslipidemia was 75%, 25% and 26.31%, among malignant breast cancer patients, benign breast lump patients and control group respectively with the mean value of triglyceride (160.01 ± 78.34, 111.75 ± 60.40 and 97.99 ± 31.34) respectively and the difference was statistically significantly (p < 0.001). In addition, the mean serum concentrations of total cholesterol were significantly different between the three groups (1588.36 ± 39.95, 132.09 ± 39.95 and 138.31 ± 45.34, p=0.020). Conclusion The overall prevalence of dyslipidemia was high in breast cancer patients in comparison to patients with benign breast lump or normal controls.