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American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on June 4, 2008
American Journal of Epidemiology 2008 168(3):261-267; doi:10.1093/aje/kwn133
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American Journal of Epidemiology © The Author 2008. Published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Benign Breast Disease among First-Degree Relatives of Young Breast Cancer Patients

Lisbeth Bertelsen1, Lene Mellemkjær1, Eva Balslev2 and Jørgen H. Olsen1

1 Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark
2 Pathology Department, Herlev Hospital, Herlev, Denmark

Correspondence to Lisbeth Bertelsen, Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Strandboulevarden 49, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark (e-mail: lisbethb{at}cancer.dk).

Received for publication January 9, 2008. Accepted for publication April 22, 2008.

Benign breast disease is associated with increased risk of breast cancer. To further clarify whether there is a genetic link between benign and malignant breast lesions, the authors identified 14,648 first-degree female relatives of 8,807 patients in whom breast cancer was diagnosed at <50 years of age by using Danish nationwide cancer and population registers. Hospital register data were used to follow the relatives for occurrence of benign breast disease from 1977 to 2003 and to calculate rates of benign breast disease in the general population of Danish women for comparison. Risk for relatives was increased for benign breast diseases (observed/expected ratio = 1.54, 95% confidence interval: 1.42, 1.66), particularly for relatives aged <40 years. Higher risks were observed after breast cancer had been diagnosed in the family; however, an increased risk for relatives aged <50 years (observed/expected ratio = 1.24, 95% confidence interval: 1.02, 1.51) was present before breast cancer was diagnosed in the family. Enhanced surveillance of close relatives of breast cancer patients seems to be an important factor to address when investigating the association between benign breast disease and familial breast cancer. A genetic link between benign breast disease and breast cancer was indicated by our data but needs to be confirmed in future studies.

breast diseases; breast neoplasms; Denmark; family; linkage (genetics); registries; women

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; ICD, International Classification of Diseases; O/E, observed/expected


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