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Induced and spontaneous abortion in relation to risk of breast cancer (United States)

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Abstract

The relation of induced and spontaneous abortion to the risk of breast cancer is evaluated in a hospital-based case-control interview study conducted in three cities in the United States from 1985 through 1995. Cases were 1,803 women aged 25 to 64 years with newly diagnosed invasive breast cancer; controls were 4,182 women of the same ages admitted for conditions unrelated to reproductive factors. Other breast cancer risk-factors were controlled through multiple logistic regression. The reference for allanalyses was women who had never had an abortion, either induced or spontaneous. Among parous women, the relative risk (RR) estimate was 1.1 (95percent confidence interval [CI] = 0.9-1.5) for induced abortion overall, 1.0(CI = 0.7-1.4) for abortion before the first birth, and 1.3 (CI = 1.0-1.8)for abortion after at least one birth. Among nulliparous women, the relative risk estimate for induced abortion was 1.3 (CI = 0.9-1.9). There was no trend of increased risk with number of abortions, nor was there consistent evidence of an increased risk in any particular subgroup. Spontaneous abortion was not associated with increased risk of breast cancer, either among nulliparous women or among parous women. These findings provide little support for the hypothesis that induced abortion increases breast cancer risk overall or in particular subgroups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Slone Epidemiology Unit, School of Public Health, Boston University of Medicine, Brookline, USA

    Julie R. Palmer, Lynn Rosenberg, R. Sowmya Rao & Samuel Shapiro

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA

    Ann Zauber

  3. Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and Division of General Internal Medicine of the Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, USA

    Brian L. Strom

  4. Department of Public Health, Cornell Medical Center, New York Hospital, New York, USA

    M. Ellen Warshauer

  5. Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA

    Paul D. Stolley

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  1. Julie R. Palmer
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  2. Lynn Rosenberg
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  3. R. Sowmya Rao
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  4. Ann Zauber
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  8. Samuel Shapiro
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Palmer, J.R., Rosenberg, L., Rao, R.S. et al. Induced and spontaneous abortion in relation to risk of breast cancer (United States). Cancer Causes Control 8, 841–849 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018408211089

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018408211089

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