Obesity linked to higher risk of breast cancer

A new study in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention suggests that obesity can be a risk factor for both triple-negative breast cancers and estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers.

The study led by Amanda Phipps, Ph.D. at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and colleagues showed women with the highest body mass index were 35 percent more likely to develop triple-negative breast cancers and 39 percent more likely to develop estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancers.

Phipps et al. analysed data from 155,723 women who participated in the Women's Health Initiative of whom 307 had triple-negative breast cancer and 2,610 women had estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

The researchers also found that those who reported high rates of physical activity were 23 percent less likely to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer and 15 percent less likely to suffer estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer.

Triple negative breast cancer is a type of breast cancer that lacks expression of estrogen, progesterone and HER2. This type of disease is highly lethal because there is no targeted treatments, according to American Association for Cancer Research, which is the publisher of the journal.

David Liu