Sedentary time and breast cancer risk in the Sister Study Cohort.

BACKGROUND

Previous research investigating sedentary behavior and breast cancer (BC) risk has shown mixed results. We investigated the association between sedentary time and BC incidence overall and by time-dependent menopausal status.

METHODS

The Sister Study recruited 50,884 women from all 50 states and Puerto Rico aged 35-74 years who had not been diagnosed with BC but had at least one affected sister. Sedentary time was collected at the first detailed follow-up from 2008-2012 and categorized as ≤5 hours/day (referent), 6-9 hours/day, and ≥10 hours/day. BC cases were reported annually. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression to estimate the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association of sedentary time with overall BC incidence, with age as the primary time scale and adjusted for relevant covariates. Participants were followed through September 2021.We evaluated effect measure modification by menopausal status.

RESULTS

Among the 39,111 eligible women with information on sedentary behavior and covariates, sedentary time (6-9vs.≤5 aHR=1.18 95% CI=1.08, 1.28; ≥10vs.≤5 aHR=1.19 95% CI=1.07, 1.32) was associated with higher BC incidence. The association varied by menopausal status (p-heterogeneity=0.002), with sedentary time inversely associated with BC among premenopausal women (≥10vs.≤5 aHR=0.69 95% CI=0.50, 0.95) and positively associated with BC among postmenopausal women (6-9vs.≤5 aHR=1.22 95% CI=1.11, 1.33; ≥10vs.≤5 aHR=1.28 95% CI=1.14, 1.43).

CONCLUSIONS

Increased sedentary time was associated with BC incidence, but the direction of this association varied by time-dependent menopausal status.

IMPACT

The impact of sedentary time on cancer risk may vary by menopausal status.