Positive Health Online

Abstract

TAN and COLLEAGUES,  1 Department of Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia; 2 Cancer Research Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia; 3 Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;        4 Biomedical Imaging Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 5 Sime Darby Medical Centre, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia; 6 Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia Campus, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia; 7 Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia conducted an unmatched hospital-based case study to study and compare breast cancer risk factors in Malaysian women.

Background

Breast cancer risk factors have been examined extensively in Western setting and more developed Asian cities/countries. However, there are limited data on developing Asian countries. The purpose of this study was to examine breast cancer risk factors and the change of selected risk factors across birth cohorts in Malaysian women.

Methodology

METHODOLOGY: An unmatched hospital based case-control study was conducted from October 2002 to December 2016 in Selangor, Malaysia. A total of 3,683 cases and 3,980 controls were included in this study. Unconditional logistic regressions, adjusted for potential confounding factors, were conducted. The breast cancer risk factors were compared across four birth cohorts by ethnicity.

Results

Ever breastfed, longer breastfeeding duration, a higher soymilk and soy product intake, and a higher level of physical activity were associated with lower risk of breast cancer. Chinese had the lowest breastfeeding rate, shortest breastfeeding duration, lowest parity and highest age of first full term pregnancy.

Conclusion

Our study shows that breastfeeding, soy intake and physical activity are modifiable risk factors for breast cancer. With the increasing incidence of breast cancer there is an urgent need to educate the women about lifestyle intervention they can take to reduce their breast cancer risk.

References

Min-Min Tan  1   2 , Weang-Kee Ho  1   2 , Sook-Yee Yoon  2 , Shivaani Mariapun  2 , Siti Norhidayu Hasan  2 , Daphne Shin-Chi Lee  2 , Tiara Hassan  2 , Sheau-Yee Lee  2 , Sze-Yee Phuah  2 , Kavitta Sivanandan  2 , Patsy Pei-Sze Ng  2 , Nadia Rajaram  1   2 , Maheswari Jaganathan  2 , Suniza Jamaris  3 , Tania Islam  3 , Kartini Rahmat  3   4 , Farhana Fadzli  4 , Anushya Vijayananthan  4 , Pathmanathan Rajadurai  5   6 , Mee-Hong See  3 , Meow-Keong Thong  7 , Nur Aishah Mohd Taib  3 , Cheng-Har Yip  5 , Soo-Hwang Teo  2. A case-control study of breast cancer risk factors in 7,663 women in Malaysia. PLoS One 13(9):e0203469. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203469. eCollection 2018. 14 Sep 2018.

Comment

The above hospital-based case study shows that breastfeeding, soy intake and physical activity are modifiable risk factors for breast cancer.