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Hypothyroidism tied to reduced breast cancer risk

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Primary hypothyroidism may reduce the risk of breast cancer or lead to more indolent invasive disease, researchers report in the March 15th issue of Cancer.

“The results of this retrospective study indicated that women with hypothyroidism have a reduced risk of developing breast cancer and, when they are diagnosed with invasive disease, demonstrate a less aggressive phenotype,” lead author Dr. Massimo Cristofanilli of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, told Reuters Health.Dr. Cristofanilli and colleagues note that the possible association between thyroid gland disease and breast cancer “has been debated for decades and remains controversial.”To shed more light on the matter, the team conducted a case-control study involving 1136 women with primary breast carcinoma who were matched to 1088 healthy women who had attended a breast screening clinic.In total, 242 (10.9%) women with breast cancer also had hypothyroidism. The prevalence of the condition was significantly greater in the control group than it was in the case group (14.9% vs 7.0%; p < 0.001).Women with breast cancer were 57% less likely to have hypothyroidism than were their healthy counterparts.Compared with euthyroid women, a subset of 78 breast cancer patients with hypothyroidism were older at the time of cancer diagnosis, were more likely to have localized disease, were more likely to have T1 or T2 disease, and were more likely to have no lymph node involvement."These data strongly suggest a role of thyroid hormone in breast carcinogenesis, possibly in close relationship with estrogen," Dr. Cristofanilli said.His group recommends that further studies be conducted that "may indicate areas of intervention for targeted preventive and therapeutic purposes."(Source: Cancer 2005;103: Reuters Health: David Douglas: Oncolink: February 2005.)


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Dates

Posted On: 16 February, 2005
Modified On: 16 January, 2014

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