Neonatal growth and breast cancer risk in adulthood

Abstract

Birth size of a woman has been positively associated with her breast cancer risk, particularly before menopause, but no study has investigated neonatal growth in relation to this risk. We conducted a case–control study nested within a population-based cohort of women, born in Sweden between 1901 and 1961, covering all 405 breast cancer patients and 1081 age- and hospital-matched controls, who were born after newborn charts became available. Compared to neonates who lost <200 g after birth and grew at a rate <25 g day ⁻¹ after reaching postnatal weight nadir (ie, the minimum, before starting to regain weight), those who either lost ⩾200 g after birth or grew ⩾25 g day ⁻¹ after nadir, or both, were at an approximately 50% increased breast cancer risk. The excess risk was striking and statistically significant among women below 50 years of age, but was not evident among older women. Immediate postnatal weight loss (an indicator of water loss, likely to reflect water retention associated with pregnancy hormones) as well as neonatal weight gain rate after the nadir (known to reflect growth hormone levels) was significantly positively associated with premenopausal breast cancer risk.