Breast Cancer & Abortions: Is There a Link?

[stoned]

is there connection between breast cancer and abortions ?

 

[hypatia]

Their have been a few studies done on the subject, but they were inconclusive at best. I recall reading in the New England Journal a few years ago that no one had found a link between the two.

 

[misskitty]

Just out of curiousity, why would there be a relatinship between abortions and breast cancer?

 

[stoned]

i been thinkin, when fetus is developing, so are mother milk glands.if a woman in let's say second month is aborting pregnancy some proto milk glands are changing into the tumors.
I know this topic is very complicated and I'm no doctor, but to me seams very plausible theory.

 

[adrenaline]

The National Cancer Institute deemed that there is no connection between induced abortions and breast cancer

:In February 2003, the National Cancer Institute held a consensus workshop on the possible link between induced abortion and increased risk of breast cancer. They produced a Summary Report, which concluded that "induced abortion is not associated with an increase in breast cancer risk." This is now posted as "fact" on the NCI website. (See http://www.cancer.gov/ cancerinfo/ere-workshop-report.)...

However, there may be an association between sponatanous miscarriages and breast cancer: (thus, the biochemical/hormonal milieu that predisposes women to miscarriages may render a woman susceptible later in life?)

Int J Cancer 2003 Aug 20;106(2):270-6 (ISSN: 0020-7136)
Paoletti X; Clavel-Chapelon F
INSERM, Equipe E3N, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France.
Recent reviews reach conflicting conclusions on breast cancer risk after spontaneous or induced abortion. E3N is a large-scale cohort study collecting detailed information on environmental and reproductive factors. We investigated the relation between breast cancer and a history of induced and/or spontaneous abortion, using the data from the 100,000 women aged 40-65 at entrance in 1990. Among them, over 2,600 new invasive breast cancers had been diagnosed by June 2000. Multivariate analysis, adjusted for known potential confounders, showed no association between a history of induced abortion and breast cancer risk either in the whole population (relative risk [RR] = 0.91, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.82-0.99) or in subgroups defined by parity or by menopausal status. Overall, the association between spontaneous abortion and breast cancer was not significant (RR = 1.05, 95% CI 0.95-1.15). However, there is a suggestion of increased risk with increased number of miscarriages (RR = 1.20, 95% CI 0.92-1.56 after 3 or more). Moreover, an interaction with menopausal status was observed. In premenopause, the risk decreased with increasing number of spontaneous abortions, whereas it increased in postmenopause. Among nulliparous and parous women, the relative risk estimates were respectively equal to 1.16 (95% CI 1.04-1.30, p trend < 0.0008) and 1.14 (95% CI 1.01-1.28, p trend = 0.005). Premenopausal breast cancer, on the other hand, appeared to be less frequent in women who had had repeated miscarriages. We conclude that there is no relationship between breast cancer and induced abortion but that an association with spontaneous abortion is possible and may depend on menopausal status

Here is another :

Obstet Gynecol 2003 Aug;102(2):433-5 (ISSN: 0029-7844)

Collective Name: ACOG Committee on Gynecologic Practice. The purpose of this Committee Opinion is to provide a review of recent studies regarding the potential relationship between induced abortion and subsequent breast cancer and to discuss methodologic challenges in this field of study. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Committee on Gynecologic Practice concludes that early studies of the relationship between prior induced abortion and breast cancer risk have been inconsistent and are difficult to interpret because of methodologic considerations. More rigorous recent studies argue against a causal relationship between induced abortion and a subsequent increase in breast cancer risk.
Major Subject Heading(s) Minor Subject Heading(s)
Abortion, Induced [adverse effects]
Breast Neoplasms [epidemiology]
Causality
Cohort Studies
Risk Assessment


Indexing Check Tags: Female; Human
Language: English
MEDLINE Indexing Date: 200308
Publication Type: Owner: NLM; Status: Completed
Publication Type: Journal Article
PreMedline Identifier: 0012907127
Unique NLM Identifier: 22789231
Journal Code: AIM; IM

It is interesting that Mainland chinese women have the lowest rates of breast cancer in the world (from China) and they have the highest rates of surgical abortion since it is their major form of birth control in a one child policy and couples want more "valuable" sons."

Here is a link to hundreds of journals and articles refuting the connection between surgical abortion and breast cancer or the more rigorous studies mentioned in the above. It is through Medscape. Hopefully you can access it and see the actual studies themselves rather than depending on layman media types to interpret it for you.

http://intapp.medscape.com/px/medli...+cancer&cid=med

Hopefully you can access it but you may need to subscribe to it as I do.

In addition if you can get your hands on CDC MMWR, a public pamphlet for those who request to see it also discusses the lack of evidence associating breast cancer and surgical abortions.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2002). Abortion surveillance–United States, 1998. MMWR, 51(SS–3): 1–32.

Here is just another good synopsis and remarks on how earlier, people did think there was an association http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/93875_soapbox02.shtml