Cardiometabolic Factors and Breast Cancer: A Case-Control Study in Women

Background: Previous studies have suggested that individual cardiometabolic factors may be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Objective: To evaluate the association between individual cardiometabolic factors with breast cancer development. Design: A case - control study. Two-hundred-and-fifty consecutive, newly diagnosed breast cancer female patients (56±12 years) and 250, one-to-one age-matched with the patients, healthy volunteers (controls), were studied. A standardized, validated questionnaire assessing various socio-demographic, clinical, lifestyle and dietary characteristics, was applied through face-to-face interviews. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was evaluated using the 11-components MedDietScore (theoretical range 0-55). A detailed medical history regarding the common co-morbidities (i.e., diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia) and their treatment was also recorded, while women were also catego- rized using the Body Mass Index (BMI) as an indicator of obesity. Results: Obesity (i.e., BMI>30 kg/m 2 ) was positively associated with the likelihood of having breast cancer. Conclusions: With the exception of obesity, none of the other tested cardiometabolic risk factors seemed to be a predisposing factor for breast cancer development.