A Journal of the University of Malta Medical School
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Original Article
Relation between obesity and the oestrogen receptor status of breast cancer
Malta Medical Journal, 2014: 2; 10
Introduction: Obesity is a growing problem in the
Western world. Correlations have been found between
increasing body mass index (BMI) and breast cancer.
The objectives were to establish whether a relationship
exists between BMI and breast cancer and to investigate
any association between BMI and tumour oestrogen
receptor expression.
Method: Clinical and socio-demographic details
(age, menopausal status, height and weight) of a sample
of women with breast cancer operated in 2010 were
collected, dividing the group into oestrogen receptor
positive (ER+) and negative (ER–) subgroups. The
average BMI of each subgroup was compared to the
mean BMI of a sample of the general Maltese female
population obtained from the European Health
Examination Survey 2010 Report (Pilot Study) by virtue
of an ANOVA test. Subsequently, the relations between
oestrogen receptor expression and each of menopausal
status, age and BMI were statistically analysed using
chi-squared analysis and two-sample t-tests.
Results: A total of 103 patients were studied. 72
patients (age range: 40 – 90 years) had ER+ malignancy
and 31 patients (29 – 81 years) had ER- malignancy. The
mean BMI’s of the ER+ and ER- subgroups were 30.1
and 27.1 respectively, while that of the female general
population (29 – 90 years) was 28.4. Analysis revealed a
significant difference between the BMI’s of the ER+ and
ER- subgroups (p<0.05) but no difference between each
receptor subgroup and the general population. Neither
menopausal status nor age was found to correlate with
positive oestrogen receptor expression.
Conclusions: Women with ER+ malignancy tended
to be significantly more obese than those with ER-
breast cancer. However, neither subgroup had a mean
BMI significa
Keywords:
Body Mass Index, Obesity, Age, Oestrogen Receptor, Breast Cancer
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