Relevance of risk factors of breast cancer in women: An Eastern Indian scenario.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVE

Incidence of breast cancer is on the rise in developed as well as in developing countries. In India it has superseded cervical cancer as the commonest malignancy in women in urban areas. A lot of risk factors have been proposed from time to time that play a causative role in the natural course of this disease. However, they are based on data accumulated from studies conducted mostly in developed countries. Aim of this study was to find out whether these known and/or presumptive breast cancer risk factors hold true for women of developing countries like India also.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

From 2008 to 2012; 1,463 breast cancer patients were compared side by side with 1,440 matched controls by predetermined questionnaire and anthropometric variables. Data were analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) V19 software todetermine whether selected risk factors were more common in the patient group than the control group.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

The risk factors under study were also found to be statistically significant for the study populationexcept duration of breastfeeding and family history of breast and ovarian cancers.

CONCLUSION

Risk factors for breast cancer do not differ significantly between developed and developing countries. Hence appropriate time has come for developing countries to incorporate breast cancer risk factors in health education and to consider pharmacological interventions in high risk women.