Research article
Waist–hip ratio and breast cancer risk in urbanized Nigerian women
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* Corresponding author: Clement A Adebamowo clement.adebamowo@ channing.harvard.edu
1 Division of Oncology, Department of Surgery, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria
2 Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
3 Radiotherapy Department, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria
4 Department of Pathology, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria
5 National Human Genome Center, Howard University, Washington DC, USA
6 Section of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Breast Cancer Res 2003, 5:R18-R24 doi:10.1186/bcr567
Published: 19 December 2002Abstract
Background
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between waist–hip ratio and the risk of breast cancer in an urban Nigerian population.
Methods
Between March 1998 and August 2000, we conducted a case–control study of hospital-based breast cancer patients (n = 234) and population-based controls (n = 273) using nurse interviewers in urban Southwestern Nigeria.
Results
Multivariable logistic regression showed a significant association between the highest tertile of waist–hip ratio and the risk of breast cancer (odds ratio= 2.67, 95% confidence interval = 1.05–6.80) among postmenopausal women. No association was found in premenopausal women.
Conclusion
The present study, the first in an indigenous African population, supports other studies that have shown a positive association between obesity and breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women.