Reproductive factors and fatal hip fractures. A Norwegian prospective study of 63,000 women. (1/614)

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of reproductive variables (age at menarche, menopause, first and last birth as well as parity, lactation, and abortions) on hip fracture mortality. DESIGN AND SETTING: A prospective study in Norway with more than 60,000 women followed up for 29 years. A total of 465 deaths as a result of hip fracture were recorded. MAIN RESULTS: Statistically significant linear relations (p < or = 0.02) were found between both age at menarche and length of reproductive period (defined as age at menopause to age at menarche) and the mortality of hip fractures in women aged less than 80. The death rate for women with a late menarche (> or = 17 years) was twice that of the women with relatively early menarche (< or = 13 years). Compared with women with less than 30 years between menopause and menarche, the mortality rate ratio in women with more than 38 reproductive years was 0.5. We also found an inverse relation with age at first birth. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports by hypothesis that an early menarche and a long reproductive period protect against hip fracture mortality. High age at first birth may also be protective.  (+info)

Moderate physical activity in relation to mammographic patterns. (2/614)

High-risk mammographic patterns may be used as a surrogate end point for breast cancer in etiologic research as well as in prevention studies. Physical activity may be one of the few modifiable risk factors for breast cancer. We examined the relationship between physical activity and mammographic patterns among 2720 Norwegian women, ages 40-56 years, who participated in both the Second and Third Tromso studies. Epidemiologic data were obtained through questionnaires. Two questions from the Second Tromso study and five questions from the Third elicited information on physical activity. The mammograms were categorized into five groups based on anatomical-mammographic correlations. For analysis, patterns I through III were combined into a low-risk group and patterns IV and V into a high-risk group. Odds ratios that were adjusted for age, education, menopausal status, body mass index, parity, age at menarche, oral contraceptive use, and alcohol intake, with 95% confidence intervals, were estimated using logistic regression. Women who reported moderate physical activity, i.e., more than 2 h/week, were 20% less likely (odds ratio, 0.8; 95% confidence interval, 0.6-1.1) to have high-risk mammographic patterns compared with those who reported being inactive. This relationship remains consistent when stratified by menopausal status, parity, and tertiles of body mass index. However, all of the associations between various measures of physical activity and high-risk patterns found in this study are weak with confidence intervals that include 1.0. Thus, chance is a reasonable explanation for the weak associations found. The relationship between physical activity and high-risk patterns should be examined further as a means to explore the biologic mechanisms relating physical activity to breast cancer risk.  (+info)

The relationship between a polymorphism in CYP17 with plasma hormone levels and breast cancer. (3/614)

The A2 allele of CYP17 has been associated with polycystic ovarian syndrome, elevated levels of certain steroid hormones in premenopausal women, and increased breast cancer risk. We prospectively assessed the association between the A2 allele of CYP17 and breast cancer risk in a case-control study nested within the Nurses' Health Study cohort. We also evaluated associations between this CYP17 genotype and plasma steroid hormone levels among postmenopausal controls not using hormone replacement to assess the biological significance of this genetic variant. Women with the A2 allele were not at an increased risk of incident breast cancer [OR (odds ratio), 0.85; 95% CI (confidence interval), 0.65-1.12] or advanced breast cancer (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.54-1.32). We did observe evidence that the inverse association of late age at menarche with breast cancer may be modified by the CYP17 A2 allele. The protective effect of later age at menarche was only observed among women without the A2 allele (A1/A1 genotype: for age at menarche > or =13 versus <13; OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.36-0.90; A1/A2 and A2/A2 genotypes: OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.76-1.45; P for interaction = 0.07). Among controls, we found women with the A2/A2 genotype to have elevated levels of estrone (+14.3%, P = 0.01), estradiol (+13.8%, P = 0.08), testosterone (+8.6%, P = 0.34), androstenedione (+17.1%, P = 0.06), dehydroepiandrosterone (+14.4%, P = 0.02), and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (+7.2%, P = 0.26) compared with women with the A1/A1 genotype. These data suggest that the A2 allele of CYP17 modifies endogenous hormone levels, but is not a strong independent risk factor for breast cancer.  (+info)

Growth in Sotos syndrome. (4/614)

Although there are several reports on infant and childhood growth in patients with Sotos syndrome, there is little information on the final height achieved and puberty. Growth data on 40 patients (20 female and 20 male) aged 2-31 years were collected. These showed that patients with Sotos syndrome are excessively tall at birth, during infancy, and during childhood. Disproportionately long limbs constitute much of the increase in stature. However, the combination of advanced bone age and early onset of menarche led to a mean (SD) final height of 172.9 (5.7) cm in women. This is within the normal range for the population. Most of the men also attained a final height (mean, 184.3 cm; SD, 6.0) within the normal range, although exceptions were more likely in men than in women. Therefore, these results show that most patients with Sotos syndrome do not require intervention to limit their adult height.  (+info)

Risk factors for laparoscopically confirmed pelvic inflammatory disease: findings from Mumbai (Bombay), India. (5/614)

OBJECTIVES: Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are an important cause of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) but have often not been detected in microbiological studies of Indian women admitted to hospital gynaecology wards or private clinics. In this cross sectional study, women living in the inner city of Mumbai (Bombay) were investigated for socioeconomic, clinical, and microbiological risk factors for PID. METHODS: Microbiological tests and laparoscopic examination were carried out on 2736 women aged < or = 35 years who came to a health facility with suspected acute salpingitis or infertility or for laparoscopic sterilisation. 86 women with a clinical diagnosis of PID were not referred for laparoscopy although their characteristics are described. Associations between various risk factors and PID status were investigated and logistic regression performed on all factors that remained significant. RESULTS: Of women with a laparoscopically confirmed evaluation, 26 women had acute and 48 chronic pelvic infection. Independent risk factors for PID were later age at menarche (> or = 14 years), a history of stillbirth and no previous pregnancy, history of tuberculosis, STD, dilatation and curettage or previous laparoscopy, and presence of Gardnerella vaginalis. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that STD related risk factors applied to only a small proportion of PID cases and that other determinants of PID are important, including obstetric complications, invasive surgical procedures such as laparoscopy, and tuberculosis.  (+info)

Diet, body size and menarche in a multiethnic cohort. (6/614)

A multiethnic cohort of 1378 Southern California school girls aged 8-13 years was followed for 4 years to evaluate factors predicting age at menarche, a risk factor for breast cancer. Height and weight were measured and dietary intake was assessed using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Of 939 girls providing data on menarcheal status, 767 were premenarcheal at the start of the study; 679 girls provided acceptable dietary data and were included in the analyses. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the relationship between diet, body size, ethnicity and age at menarche. Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Island and African-American girls were more likely to experience early menarche than non-Hispanic white girls. Tall (> 148.6 cm) versus short (< 135.9 cm) girls experienced earlier menarche (relative hazard (RH) = 2.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.1-4.1) as did those with high Quetelet's index (QI, kg m(-2)) (> 20.7) versus low QI (< 16.1) (RH = 2.2, 95% CI 1.7-2.9). Of all the dietary variables analysed, only energy intake was related to age at menarche. High versus low energy intake (> 12,013 kJ vs < 7004 kJ) was associated with a delay in menarche (RH = 0.7, 95% CI 0.5-0.9); this finding was limited to a subset of heavy Hispanic girls who appeared to underreport their dietary intake.  (+info)

Ovarian function after bone marrow transplantation performed before menarche. (7/614)

AIM: To examine the long term effect of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) on ovarian function in girls. METHODS: Eighteen girls who underwent BMT before menarche, had been disease free for more than six years, and were over 14 years of age at the time of study were investigated. The preparative regimen consisted of irradiation and chemotherapy. The occurrence of menarche and changes in basal serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) concentrations were studied. RESULTS: Twelve patients achieved menarche at a median age of 12.8 years. Age at transplant was significantly younger in patients who achieved menarche than in those who did not (mean (SD), 7.2 (0.5) v 11.1 (1.7) years). Basal FSH began to rise to menopausal concentrations after 10 years of age, and the girls who did not experience menarche had a sustained rise in FSH concentrations. Among those with raised FSH concentrations, five girls experienced menarche while serum FSH values were decreasing and four achieved menarche while FSH remained raised. CONCLUSIONS: The high incidence of menarche suggests a favourable outcome of ovarian function in girls who undergo BMT at a young age.  (+info)

Tobacco smoking as a risk factor in anal carcinoma: an antiestrogenic mechanism? (8/614)

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus-associated anogenital carcinogenesis depends on poorly defined cofactors. Smoking was recently suggested to increase the risk of anal cancer more in premenopausal women than in postmenopausal women. Thus, we used our population-based anal cancer case-control study in Denmark and Sweden to test this hypothesis. METHODS: Our study included 417 patients (324 women and 93 men) who were diagnosed with anal cancer (84% invasive cancer) from 1991 through 1994; it also included five patients diagnosed in 1995. Two control groups were used: 1) 554 population control subjects (349 women and 205 men) and 2) 534 patients with rectal adenocarcinoma (343 women and 191 men). Odds ratios (ORs), calculated from logistic regression analyses, were used as measures of relative risk. All P values are two-sided. RESULTS: Compared with the risk for lifelong nonsmokers, the risk of anal cancer was high among premenopausal women who currently smoked tobacco (multivariate OR = 5.6; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.4-12.7) and increased linearly by 6.7% per pack-year smoked (one pack-year is equivalent to one pack of cigarettes smoked per day for 1 year) (P for trend <.001). Smoking was not statistically significantly associated with anal cancer risk in postmenopausal women or men. Women whose menstrual periods started late were at high risk (multivariate OR = 3.6; 95% CI = 1.8-7.3, for > or = 17 years of age versus < or = 12 years of age; P for trend <.001), and body mass index (weight in kg/[height in m]2) was inversely associated with risk among women (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Because the risk of anal cancer associated with smoking was restricted to premenopausal women and because higher risk was associated with late menarche and lean body composition, female sex hormones may be a factor in anal cancer development in women. Since the anal mucosa is an estrogen-sensitive area, we hypothesize an antiestrogenic mechanism of action for smoking in anal carcinogenesis.  (+info)