On the age-dependent association between cancer of the breast and of the endometrium. A nationwide cohort study

Abstract

The association between breast and endometrial cancer was investigated in a cohort consisting of 60,065 subjects (99% of all women in whom a first breast cancer was diagnosed in Sweden in 1960-63 and 1968-81). Complete follow-up until 1981 revealed a total of 260 endometrial cancers, as against an expected number of 151.1 (relative risk (RR) = 1.72; 95% confidence limits (CL) 1.46; 1.87). RR increased steadily from close to unity in women younger than 50 at breast cancer diagnosis to 2.40 (CL 1.97; 2.93) in those 70 years of age and older. The excess number of endometrial cancers occurred primarily during the first five years of follow-up (RR = 2.07; CL 1.79; 2.38). A common causal agency for breast and endometrial cancer is more likely to lie in environmental than in genetic factors and other observations in the same population do not support that such factors are related to characteristics of the women's reproductive histories.