A possible link between prenatal exposure to famine and breast cancer: a preliminary study

R C Painter; S R De Rooij; P M M Bossuyt; C Osmond; D J P Barker; O P Bleker; T J Roseboom

doi:10.1002/ajhb.20564

A possible link between prenatal exposure to famine and breast cancer: a preliminary study

Am J Hum Biol. 2006 Nov-Dec;18(6):853-6. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.20564.

Authors

R C Painter¹, S R De Rooij, P M M Bossuyt, C Osmond, D J P Barker, O P Bleker, T J Roseboom

Affiliation

¹ Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

PMID: 17039469
DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.20564

Abstract

In a study of 475 women born around the 1944-1945 Dutch famine, women exposed to prenatal famine more often reported a history of breast cancer than nonexposed women (hazard ratio, 2.6; 95% confidence interval, 0.9-7.7). They also had alterations in reproductive risk factors. Prenatal famine may increase breast cancer incidence.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Birth Weight
Breast Neoplasms / epidemiology*
Breast Neoplasms / etiology
Cohort Studies
Female
Humans
Incidence
Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
Middle Aged
Netherlands / epidemiology
Pregnancy
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects*
Proportional Hazards Models
Starvation / physiopathology*
World War II