Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Fertility, Gender Differences, Karolinski Institute, Mammograms, Radiology / 14.04.2016
Infertility and Fertility Treatments Linked To Greater Breast Density
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Frida Lundberg | PhD Student
Dept. of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Karolinska Institutet
Medical Research: What is the background for this study?
Response: Fertility treatments involve stimulation with potent hormonal drugs that increase the amount of the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone. These hormones have been linked to breast cancer risk. Further, as these treatments are relatively new, most women who have gone through them are still below the age at which breast cancer is usually diagnosed. Therefore we wanted to investigate if infertility and fertility treatments influences mammographic breast density, a strong marker for breast cancer risk that is also hormone-responsive.
Medical Research: What are the main findings?
Response: We found that women with a history of infertility had higher absolute dense volume than other women. Among the infertile women, those who had gone through controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) had the highest absolute dense volume. The results from our study indicate that infertile women, especially those who undergo COS, might represent a group with an increased risk of breast cancer. However, the observed difference in dense volume was relatively small and has only been linked to a modest increase in breast cancer risk in previous studies. As the infertility type could influence what treatment the couples undergo, the association might also be due to the underlying infertility rather than the treatment per se.
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