Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women, as healthcare staffing professionals are likely well aware. Now, a new study from the University of Oxford suggests that the more a premenopausal woman weighs, the more her life may be put in danger by breast cancer.
This contradicts previous information that indicated that fat may serve as a sort of buffer against the tumor. Thus, being overweight was considered somewhat protective against the cancer among females who had not yet undergone menopause. However, after clinical trials of more than 80,000 women, Oxford researchers discovered that obesity may in fact raise the risk of dying from early stage breast cancer for some women. As the findings show, obese, premenopausal females who had a form of the disease known as estrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) were 34 percent more likely to die from their breast cancer.
"Among women who develop breast cancer, obesity is reportedly associated with somewhat worse prognosis," Hongchao Pan, study author and senior research fellow at Oxford, told HealthDay.
Pan also pointed out that the findings were striking because almost 2 out of 3 breast cancers are hormone receptor-positive, either ER-positive or progesterone receptor-positive. Pan and colleagues used the standard definition of obesity based on body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. A normal BMI for a woman ranges between 18.5 and 24.9. On top of the dangers from cancer – and since there is no solidified cure for breast cancer yet – the higher one's BMI number, the greater the risk to the female's health.
How does menopause play a part in breast cancer?
While the end of menstruation itself is not associated with an increased risk of developing cancer, the rate of breast cancer jumps with age. Out of all factors for the disease, age is the single-most important. About 95 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer each year are older than age 40, and about half are age 61 and older, according to WebMD.
However, the disease, which about 1 in 8 American women suffer from, can be risky at any age, even for those who have not gone through menopause.
"This study forces us to pay attention to obesity in premenopausal women," Dr. Courtney Vito, a breast surgeon and assistant clinical professor of surgical oncology at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, told HealthDay.
Those on travel nursing assignments should provide resources, advice and health steps for overweight women to help lose weight.