Research article

Benign breast disease, recent alcohol consumption, and risk of breast cancer: a nested case–control study

Rulla M Tamimi^1,2 , Celia Byrne³ , Heather J Baer^1,2 , Bernie Rosner^1,4 , Stuart J Schnitt⁵ , James L Connolly⁵ and Graham A Colditz^1,2,6

¹Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

²Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

³Cancer Genetics and Epidemiology Program, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

⁴Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

⁵Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

⁶Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, Boston, MA, USA

author email corresponding author email

Breast Cancer Research 2005, 7:R555-R562doi:10.1186/bcr1039

Published:	16 May 2005

Abstract

Introduction

Alcohol consumption is a well-established risk factor for breast cancer. Some studies have suggested that the risk of breast cancer associated with alcohol consumption is greater for women with a history of benign breast disease (BBD). We hypothesized that among women with biopsy-confirmed BBD, recent alcohol consumption would increase the risk of breast cancer in women with proliferative breast disease to a greater extent than in women with nonproliferative breast disease.

Methods

We conducted a nested case–control study in the Nurses' Health Study I and II. The cases (n = 282) were women diagnosed with incident breast cancer, with a prior biopsy-confirmed breast disease. The controls (n = 1,223) were participants with a previous BBD biopsy, but without a diagnosis of breast cancer. Pathologists reviewed benign breast biopsy slides in a blinded fashion and classified the BBD as nonproliferative, proliferative without atypia, or atypical hyperplasia, according to standard criteria.

Results

Women with nonproliferative breast disease consuming ≥ 15 g of alcohol per day had a nonsignificant 67% increased risk of breast cancer (odds ratio = 1.67; 95% confidence interval 0.65 to 4.34) compared with nondrinkers. There was no evidence that recent alcohol consumption increased the risk of breast cancer to a greater extent in women with proliferative BBD than among women with nonproliferative BBD (P for interactio n = 0.20).

Conclusion

Contrary to our a priori hypothesis, there was no evidence that recent alcohol consumption increased the risk of breast cancer to a greater extent among women with proliferative BBD than among women with nonproliferative BBD.