Associations of height, body mass index, and weight gain with breast cancer risk in carriers of a pathogenic variant in BRCA1 or BRCA2: the BRCA1 and BRCA2 Cohort Consortium

• Published in: Breast cancer research : BCR Vol. 25; no. 1; p. 72
• Main Authors: Kast, Karin, John, Esther M, Hopper, John L, Andrieu, Nadine, Noguès, Catherine, Mouret-Fourme, Emmanuelle, Lasset, Christine, Fricker, Jean-Pierre, Berthet, Pascaline, Mari, Véronique, Salle, Lucie, Schmidt, Marjanka K, Ausems, Margreet G E M, Garcia, Encarnacion B Gomez, van de Beek, Irma, Wevers, Marijke R, Evans, D Gareth, Tischkowitz, Marc, Lalloo, Fiona, Cook, Jackie, Izatt, Louise, Tripathi, Vishakha, Snape, Katie, Musgrave, Hannah, Sharif, Saba, Murray, Jennie, Colonna, Sarah V, Andrulis, Irene L, Daly, Mary B, Southey, Melissa C, de la Hoya, Miguel, Osorio, Ana, Foretova, Lenka, Berkova, Dita, Gerdes, Anne-Marie, Olah, Edith, Jakubowska, Anna, Singer, Christian F, Tan, Yen, Augustinsson, Annelie, Rantala, Johanna, Simard, Jacques, Schmutzler, Rita K, Milne, Roger L, Phillips, Kelly-Anne, Terry, Mary Beth, Goldgar, David, van Leeuwen, Flora E, Mooij, Thea M, Antoniou, Antonis C, Easton, Douglas F, Rookus, Matti A, Engel, Christoph
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 20-06-2023; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Age; Associations, institutions, etc; Body Mass Index; Body weight gain; BRCA1 protein; BRCA1 Protein - genetics; BRCA2 protein; BRCA2 Protein - genetics; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - epidemiology; Breast Neoplasms - genetics; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Cancer; Cancer and Oncology; Cancer och onkologi; Clinical Medicine; Cohort analysis; Consortia; Female; Genes, BRCA2; Genetic aspects; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Health aspects; Heterozygote; Hormone replacement therapy; Humans; Klinisk medicin; Life Sciences; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Menopause; Menstruation; Oophorectomy; Post-menopause; Postmenopausal women; Questionnaires; Retrospective Studies; Risk; Risk factors; Santé publique et épidémiologie; Societies; Statistical analysis; Statistics; Weight Gain - genetics; Womens health; Young adults; France; Netherlands
• ISSN: 1465-542X; 1465-5411; 1465-542X
• DOI: 10.1186/s13058-023-01673-w

Height, body mass index (BMI), and weight gain are associated with breast cancer risk in the general population. It is unclear whether these associations also exist for carriers of pathogenic variants in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes.
An international pooled cohort of 8091 BRCA1/2 variant carriers was used for retrospective and prospective analyses separately for premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Cox regression was used to estimate breast cancer risk associations with height, BMI, and weight change.
In the retrospective analysis, taller height was associated with risk of premenopausal breast cancer for BRCA2 variant carriers (HR 1.20 per 10 cm increase, 95% CI 1.04-1.38). Higher young-adult BMI was associated with lower premenopausal breast cancer risk for both BRCA1 (HR 0.75 per 5 kg/m
, 95% CI 0.66-0.84) and BRCA2 (HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.65-0.89) variant carriers in the retrospective analysis, with consistent, though not statistically significant, findings from the prospective analysis. In the prospective analysis, higher BMI and adult weight gain were associated with higher postmenopausal breast cancer risk for BRCA1 carriers (HR 1.20 per 5 kg/m
, 95% CI 1.02-1.42; and HR 1.10 per 5 kg weight gain, 95% CI 1.01-1.19, respectively).
Anthropometric measures are associated with breast cancer risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 variant carriers, with relative risk estimates that are generally consistent with those for women from the general population.