Christine MH
03-03-2005, 02:43 PM
I found this interesting because HER2+ BC tends to affect premenopausal women more than BC in general (and it is also a much higher proportion of BC in East Asia than in the West).
Smoking Ups Risk of Premenopausal Breast Cancer (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_23305.html)
"Both active and "passive" smoking (exposure to secondhand smoke) increase the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal but not postmenopausal women, a study of middle-aged Japanese women suggests.
The investigators think that higher levels of estrogens present in the body of premenopausal women may act jointly with external cancer-causing agents, such as tobacco, to fuel the development of breast cancer"...
"Compared with never-active smokers with no exposure to secondhand smoke, ever-smokers who had yet to enter menopause had a greater than 3-fold elevated risk of developing breast cancer. The elevated risk of developing breast cancer among ever-smokers was not observed in postmenopausal women.
Premenopausal but not postmenopausal women who had never smoked but had been exposed to secondhand smoke had a 2.6-fold increased risk of developing breast cancer."
Smoking Ups Risk of Premenopausal Breast Cancer (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_23305.html)
"Both active and "passive" smoking (exposure to secondhand smoke) increase the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal but not postmenopausal women, a study of middle-aged Japanese women suggests.
The investigators think that higher levels of estrogens present in the body of premenopausal women may act jointly with external cancer-causing agents, such as tobacco, to fuel the development of breast cancer"...
"Compared with never-active smokers with no exposure to secondhand smoke, ever-smokers who had yet to enter menopause had a greater than 3-fold elevated risk of developing breast cancer. The elevated risk of developing breast cancer among ever-smokers was not observed in postmenopausal women.
Premenopausal but not postmenopausal women who had never smoked but had been exposed to secondhand smoke had a 2.6-fold increased risk of developing breast cancer."