Smoking, alcohol misuse and diabetes

Smoking may initiate breast cancer

J Natl Cancer Inst 2013;105:515-525

Women who start smoking before giving birth to their first baby are especially likely to develop breast cancer.

American researchers analysed data from 73,388 women. Of these, 3,721 developed invasive breast cancer during a median follow-up of 13.8 years. Current and former smokers were 24 per cent and 13 per cent respectively more likely than women who had never smoked to develop breast cancer. Women who started smoking before menarche (61 per cent increase) or after menarche but at least 11 years before their first birth (45 per cent increase) were particularly likely to develop breast cancer.