Birth Size is Directly Related to Premenopausal Breast Cancer Risk

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have found that birth size (determined by birth length and head circumference) is directly related to the risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer.

Larger infants may have been exposed to different levels of growth hormone in the womb. This altered in utero environment plays a role in determining breast cancer risk.

Researchers conducted a study that involved 5,358 women born between 1915 and 1929. Data from the Swedish Cancer Registry was analysed to determine which subjects developed breast cancer.

Birth length and head circumference were found to be significant predictors of future disease. It is the hormones that influence body length and head circumference that play an important role in later cancer risk.

The link was only found for women under the age of 50 years.

(Source: British Medical Journal)