Trajectories of alcohol consumption during life and the risk of developing breast cancer.

Abstract

Whether there are lifetime points of greater sensitivity to the deleterious effects of alcohol intake on the breasts remains inconclusive. To compare the influence of distinctive trajectories of alcohol consumption throughout a woman's life on development of breast cancer (BC). 1278 confirmed invasive BC cases and matched (by age and residence) controls from the Epi-GEICAM study (Spain) were used. The novel group-based trajectory modelling was used to identify different alcohol consumption trajectories throughout women's lifetime. Four alcohol trajectories were identified. The first comprised women (45%) with low alcohol consumption ( The greater the alcohol consumption accumulated throughout life, the greater the risk of BC, especially in postmenopausal women. Alcohol consumption during adolescence may particularly influence BC risk.