Smoking and breast cancer
Cancer (2014) doi: 10.1002/cncr.28402
Young women who smoke the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes a day for a decade are 60% more likely to develop oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancers, the most common subtype of the malignancy, according to American research.
The study enrolled 778 women, aged between 20 to 44 years, with ER-positive breast cancers and 182 women with one of the most aggressive subtypes: triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) ER-negative, progesterone receptor-negative and HER-2-negative.
Compared to 938 women without cancer who acted as controls, those who had smoked at any time were 30% and 40% more likely to develop breast cancer overall and ER-positive breast cancer respectively. Current or recent smokers with at least a 10 pack per year history were 60% more likely to develop ER-positive breast cancer. Smoking did not seem to influence TNBC risk. Furthermore, the risk of ER-positive breast cancer returned to baseline 10 years after quitting.
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