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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: Int J Cancer. 2022 Apr 26;151(3):372–380. doi: 10.1002/ijc.34026

Table 1.

Associations of 23 known and suspected risk factors and biomarkers with overall breast cancer risk a: Results from Mendelian randomization analyses

Risk factors b Number of SNPs Variance explained (%) F-statistics IVW
MR-PRESSO
P pleiotropy
OR (95% CI) P OR (95% CI) P

Reproductive factors
 Age at menopause (years) 53 5.5 75.5 1.09 (1.06–1.13) 2.71×10−7 1.11 (1.08–1.14) 2.53×10−10 0.232
 Age at menarche (years) 381 7.2 67.4 0.85 (0.75–0.96) 0.010 0.94 (0.86–1.03) 0.220 0.890
Body weight and other measurements
 BMI (kg/m2) 856 8.3 72.4 0.96 (0.92–0.99) 0.023 0.97 (0.94–1.00) 0.069 0.880
 WHR adj BMI 440 4.3 71.1 0.92 (0.87–0.97) 0.002 0.91 (0.87–0.95) 2.85×10−5 0.052
 Weight at Birth (g) 57 1.7 47.3 0.90 (0.79–1.03) 0.145 0.93 (0.84–1.02) 0.124 0.322
 Height (cm) 2791 41.7 177.0 1.03 (1.01–1.05) 0.004 1.02 (1.00–1.03) 0.057 0.977
 Mammographic dense area (cm2) 7 1.2 32.4 1.29 (0.97–1.71) 0.085 1.25 (1.09–1.42) 0.047 0.875
 Breast size (cup) 7 1.8 42.7 1.26 (0.83–1.90) 0.274 NA 0.451
Lifestyle factors
 Physical activity (accelerometer-measured (milligravities)) 5 0.2 35.2 0.51 (0.26–0.99) 0.048 0.84 (0.61–1.17) 0.309 0.229
 Alcohol consumption (drinks per week) 169 1.0 33.6 1.01 (0.89–1.16) 0.829 0.99 (0.88–1.11) 0.881 0.590
 Smoking behavior (lifetime smoking index) 126 1.3 48.8 1.16 (1.03–1.30) 0.012 1.17 (1.05–1.30) 0.006 0.208
 Sleep duration (hours) 52 0.5 39.6 1.37 (1.11–1.70) 0.003 1.26 (1.10–1.45) 0.002 0.880
 Chronotype 340 2.5 34.3 0.89 (0.83–0.94) 1.29×10−4 0.90 (0.85–0.95) 1.02×10−4 0.324
Biomarkers
 Estrogens (pmol/l) 3 1.6 14.3 1.14 (1.01–1.28) 0.030 NA 0.970
 Progesterone (nmol/l) 4 10.0 35.0 1.01 (0.97–1.04) 0.761 1.01 (0.98–1.03) 0.701 0.332
 SHBG (nmol/L) 9 3.6 38.9 0.85 (0.76–0.94) 0.002 0.85 (0.79–0.90) 0.003 0.480
 IGF-1 (nmol/L) 265 9.1 72.8 1.05 (1.00–1.11) 0.037 1.06 (1.02–1.11) 0.005 0.295
 Leukocyte telomere length 19 1.5 63.6 1.19 (1.08–1.32) 5.63×10−4 1.20 (1.11–1.29) 3.09×10−4 0.008
 HDL-C (mmol/L) 528 15.9 144.5 1.10 (1.06–1.15) 1.12×10−5 1.10 (1.06–1.14) 1.23×10−6 0.103
 LDL-C (mmol/L) 218 7.9 174.0 1.05 (0.99–1.11) 0.083 1.02 (0.97–1.07) 0.407 0.020
 Triglycerides (mmol/L) 436 11.4 130.3 0.96 (0.92–1.01) 0.097 0.95 (0.91–0.99) 0.009 0.138
 Fasting insulin adj BMI (pmol/L) 14 0.7 49.5 1.27 (1.03–1.56) 0.025 1.28 (1.10–1.50) 0.010 0.222
 2-h glucose adj BMI (mmol/L) 9 0.9 43.4 1.28 (0.96–1.72) 0.098 1.07 (0.88–1.31) 0.534 0.005

Abbreviation: IVW, inverse-variance weighted; MR, mendelian randomization; PRESSO, pleiotropy residual sum and outlier; BMI, body mass index; WHR, waist-to-hip ratio; HDL-C, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol; LDL-C, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol; IGF-1, insulin like growth factor 1; SHBG, sex hormone binding globulin; NA, not available.

a

Based on 133,384 breast cancer cases and 113,789 controls.

b

The unit is in 2 years change per copy of the effect allele for the OR estimates of age at menarche and menopause. The unit is in standard deviation change per copy of the effect allele for the OR estimates of BMI, WHR adj BMI, weight at birth, height, mammographic dense area, physical activity, alcohol consumption, IGF-1, HDL-C, LDL-C, triglycerides, fasting insulin adj BMI, and 2-h glucose adj BMI. The unit is in per-unit change per copy of the effect allele for the OR estimates of breast size, smoking behavior, sleep duration, estrogens, progesterone, SHBG, and leukocyte telomere length. The unit is in per-category change per copy of the effect allele for the OR estimates of chronotype. From definite evening, more evening than morning, don’t know, more morning than evening, and definite morning, which coded as −2, −1,0, 1, and 2.