This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1055-9965.EPI-06-0258v1 15/10/1863    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Haile, R. W. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Haile, R. W.

BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Carriers, Oral Contraceptive Use, and Breast Cancer Before Age 50

¹ Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California-Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California; ² Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California; ³ Northern California Cancer Center, Fremont, California; ⁴ Early Detection Laboratory, ⁵ University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; ⁶ Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; ⁷ Department of Hematology-Oncology, University of Utah, Salt Lake, Utah; ⁸ Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York; ⁹ Cancer Care Ontario; ¹⁰ Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ¹¹ University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; ¹² Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council Victoria, Carlton, Victoria, Australia; ¹³ Hereditary Cancer Clinic, Prince of Wales University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; ¹⁴ Department of Cancer Biology, Harvard Medical School/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts; and ¹⁵ Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Requests for reprints: Robert Haile, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, 1441 Eastlake Avenue, MS 9175, Los Angeles, CA, 90089-9175. Phone: 323-865-0495; Fax: 323-865-0140. E-mail: haile{at}usc.edu

Background: Understanding the effect of oral contraceptives on risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers is important because oral contraceptive use is a common, modifiable practice.

Methods: We studied 497 BRCA1 and 307 BRCA2 mutation carriers, of whom 195 and 128, respectively, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Case-control analyses were conducted using unconditional logistic regression with adjustments for family history and familial relationships and were restricted to subjects with a reference age under 50 years.

Results: For BRCA1 mutation carriers, there was no significant association between risk of breast cancer and use of oral contraceptives for at least 1 year [odds ratio (OR), 0.77; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.53-1.12] or duration of oral contraceptive use (P_trend = 0.62). For BRCA2 mutation carriers, there was no association with use of oral contraceptives for at least 1 year (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 0.90-2.92); however, there was an association of elevated risk with oral contraceptive use for at least 5 years (OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.08-3.94) and with duration of use (OR_trend per year of use, 1.08; P = 0.008). Similar results were obtained when we considered only use of oral contraceptives that first started in 1975 or later.

Conclusions: We found no evidence overall that use of oral contraceptives for at least 1 year is associated with breast cancer risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers before age 50. For BRCA2 mutation carriers, use of oral contraceptives may be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer among women who use them for at least 5 years. Further studies reporting results separately for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers are needed to resolve this important issue. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(10):1863–70)

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. M. Kaunitz Hormonal Contraception in Women of Older Reproductive Age N. Engl. J. Med., March 20, 2008; 358(12): 1262 - 1270. [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. C. Figueiredo, L. Bernstein, M. Capanu, K. E. Malone, C. F. Lynch, H. Anton-Culver, M. Stovall, L. Bertelsen, R. W. Haile, and J. L. Bernstein Oral Contraceptives, Postmenopausal Hormones, and Risk of Asynchronous Bilateral Breast Cancer: The WECARE Study Group J. Clin. Oncol., March 20, 2008; 26(9): 1411 - 1418. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. H. Greene, M. Piedmonte, D. Alberts, M. Gail, M. Hensley, Z. Miner, P. L. Mai, J. Loud, G. Rodriguez, J. Basil, et al. A Prospective Study of Risk-Reducing Salpingo-oophorectomy and Longitudinal CA-125 Screening among Women at Increased Genetic Risk of Ovarian Cancer: Design and Baseline Characteristics: A Gynecologic Oncology Group Study Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., March 1, 2008; 17(3): 594 - 604. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. M. Brohet, D. E. Goldgar, D. F. Easton, A. C. Antoniou, N. Andrieu, J. Chang-Claude, S. Peock, R. A. Eeles, M. Cook, C. Chu, et al. Oral Contraceptives and Breast Cancer Risk in the International BRCA1/2 Carrier Cohort Study: A Report From EMBRACE, GENEPSO, GEO-HEBON, and the IBCCS Collaborating Group J. Clin. Oncol., September 1, 2007; 25(25): 3831 - 3836. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Robson and K. Offit Management of an Inherited Predisposition to Breast Cancer N. Engl. J. Med., July 12, 2007; 357(2): 154 - 162. [Full Text] [PDF]