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Age at menarche and breast cancer risk in nulliparous women

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Summary

Early age at menarche is a known risk factor for breast cancer, some inconsistency in the literature not withstanding. Relative risks for an early menarcheal onset as compared to a late onset vary from 1.0 to 1.9.

To avoid (residual) confounding by parity-related factors a case-control study was conducted among nulliparous women. 135 cases and 540 controls were selected from two population-based screening projects for breast cancer in The Netherlands. Four controls were matched to each case for year of birth, for screening-centre, and for number of screening examinations.

Women with a menarcheal age of 10 or 11 years showed a 2.2 times (95% confidence interval: 1.2-4.0) higher risk for breast cancer compared to women who had their first menstrual period at 12 years of age or older.

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Peeters, P.H.M., Verbeek, A.L.M., Krol, A. et al. Age at menarche and breast cancer risk in nulliparous women. Breast Cancer Res Tr 33, 55–61 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00666071

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