Skip Navigation



American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published online on November 12, 2009
American Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/aje/kwp313
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
170/12/1571    most recent
kwp313v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Stone, J.
Right arrow Articles by Cuzick, J.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Stone, J.
Right arrow Articles by Cuzick, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

American Journal of Epidemiology © The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Practice of Epidemiology

Determinants of Percentage and Area Measures of Mammographic Density

Jennifer Stone*, Ruth M. L. Warren, Elizabeth Pinney, Jane Warwick and Jack Cuzick

* Correspondence to Dr. Jennifer Stone, Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic, and Analytic Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne, Level 1, 723 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia (e-mail: stonej{at}unimelb.edu.au).

Received for publication March 2, 2009. Accepted for publication September 11, 2009.

Mammographic density is one of the strongest predictors of breast cancer risk. Typically expressed as a percentage of the breast area occupied by radiologically dense tissue on a mammogram, its full value may not be realized because of its negative association with body mass index. A simpler measure of mammographic density, independent of other breast cancer risk factors and equally predictive of risk, would be preferable for risk prediction models. Percentage and area measures of mammographic density were determined for 815 women at high risk for breast cancer from the baseline assessments in the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study I, a trial of tamoxifen for breast cancer prevention conducted between 1992 and 2001. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess associations between risk factors and the mammographic measures. Percent dense area was negatively associated with age, body mass index, menopausal status, predicted risk, and smoking status (R2 = 24%). Dense area was negatively associated with only age and body mass index (R2 = 7%), and the latter association was much weaker than for percent dense area. Nondense area was positively associated with age, body mass index, and predicted risk (R2 = 36%). Dense area was not associated with the multitude of risk factors that percent dense area was, making it a simpler biomarker for risk prediction modeling. Both dense area and percent dense area should be presented whenever possible for comparisons in research.

biological markers; breast neoplasms; mammography; risk; risk factors; women's health

Abbreviations: SE, standard error


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.