Abstract
The survival experience of 582 women with premenopausal breast cancer was examined to determine whether prognosis was related to body size or to demographic and reproductive factors. During the follow-up period 228 patients died and 18 emigrated or were lost to follow-up. Usual body weight, reported at the time of diagnosis, was a strong predictor of survival, with a statistically significant trend towards lower survival with increasing weight. Height and obesity (Quetelet index) were not significantly related to survival, although the tallest women and the most obese women appeared to fare worst. Other characteristics of prognostic importance were disease stage and reproductive history (women who were older when their first child was born fared better). Women aged 46-50 when diagnosed also appeared more likely to survive but no clear trend with age was evident. Other characteristics of the women including social class, cigarette use and oral contraceptive use were not significantly related to survival probability.
Full text
PDF






Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Black M. M., Hankey B. F., Barclay T. H. Parity as a prognostic factor in young breast cancer patients. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1983 Jan;70(1):27–30. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Boyd N. F., Campbell J. E., Germanson T., Thomson D. B., Sutherland D. J., Meakin J. W. Body weight and prognosis in breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1981 Oct;67(4):785–789. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Donegan W. L., Hartz A. J., Rimm A. A. The association of body weight with recurrent cancer of the breast. Cancer. 1978 Apr;41(4):1590–1594. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197804)41:4<1590::aid-cncr2820410449>3.0.co;2-n. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gray G. E., Pike M. C., Henderson B. E. Breast-cancer incidence and mortality rates in different countries in relation to known risk factors and dietary practices. Br J Cancer. 1979 Jan;39(1):1–7. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1979.1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lew E. A., Garfinkel L. Variations in mortality by weight among 750,000 men and women. J Chronic Dis. 1979;32(8):563–576. doi: 10.1016/0021-9681(79)90119-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Morrison A. S., Lowe C. R., MacMahon B., Ravnihar B., Yuasa S. Some international differences in treatment and survival in breast cancer. Int J Cancer. 1976 Sep 15;18(3):269–273. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910180302. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Morrison A. S., Lowe C. R., MacMahon B., Warram J. H., Jr, Yuasa S. Survival of breast cancer patients related to incidence risk factors. Int J Cancer. 1972 May 15;9(3):470–476. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910090303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Papatestas A. E., Mulvihill M., Josi C., Ioannovich J., Lesnick G., Aufses A. H., Jr Parity and prognosis in breast cancer. Cancer. 1980 Jan 1;45(1):191–194. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19800101)45:1<191::aid-cncr2820450130>3.0.co;2-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sohrabi A., Sandoz J., Spratt J. S., Polk H. C., Jr Recurrence of breast cancer. Obesity, tumor size, and axillary lymph node metastases. JAMA. 1980 Jul 18;244(3):264–265. doi: 10.1001/jama.244.3.264. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tartter P. I., Papatestas A. E., Ioannovich J., Mulvihill M. N., Lesnick G., Aufses A. H., Jr Cholesterol and obesity as prognostic factors in breast cancer. Cancer. 1981 May 1;47(9):2222–2227. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19810501)47:9<2222::aid-cncr2820470919>3.0.co;2-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Vessey M. P., Doll R., Sutton P. M. Oral contraceptives and breast neoplasia: a retrospective study. Br Med J. 1972 Sep 23;3(5829):719–724. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5829.719. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Vessey M., Baron J., Doll R., McPherson K., Yeates D. Oral contraceptives and breast cancer: final report of an epidemiological study. Br J Cancer. 1983 Apr;47(4):455–462. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1983.74. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wynder E. L., Cohen L. A. A rationale for dietary intervention in the treatment of postmenopausal breast cancer patients. Nutr Cancer. 1982;3(4):195–199. doi: 10.1080/01635588109513722. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- de Waard F. Epidemiology of breast cancer; a review. Eur J Cancer Clin Oncol. 1983 Dec;19(12):1671–1676. doi: 10.1016/0277-5379(83)90150-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]