Breast feeding and breast carcinoma – findings from a case control study

Background: The rising trend in breast cancer worldwide and in India has become a matter of great concern.The most common site-specific cancer is breast cancer and also it is the leading cause of death from cancer in women.Geographical variations in incidence and mortality rates of breast cancer suggest that the known risk factors for breast cancer may vary in different parts of the world and that environmental factors are of greater importance than genetic factors.It is important to identify these factors in order to bring down the incidence, morbidity and mortality.One of the major modifiable risk factor associated with breast carcinoma is breast feeding.Hence this case control study mainly focuses to study practice of breast feeding and its risk with breast carcinoma Aim: To study association of breastfeeding with breast carcinoma and to assess its strength of association. Methods: This was a case control study carried out in Government Medical College, Nagpur from August 2010 to February 2011. 240 women were studied which included 120 histopathologically confirmed cases of breast carcinoma and 120 age (5 years) and residence (rural / urban) matched controls. Data was gathered using predesigned and pretested proforma. Results: The women who had never breastfed were 5.12 (1.60 – 21.34) times at a risk of breast carcinoma than those who have ever breastfed.No association was found between initiation of breastfeeding after delivery and breast carcinoma.Decreasing trend with increasing cumulative duration of breastfeeding was seen. Discussion: Similar findings are seen from other authors. Conclusion: Longer duration of breastfeeding is a protective factor for development of breast carcinoma.