Adiposity and Sex Hormones in Girls
- 1Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Departments of 2Epidemiology and 3Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts; 4Department of Surgery, Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; and 5Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Requests for reprints:
Heather J. Baer, Channing Laboratory, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. Phone: 617-525-2101; Fax: 617-525-2008. E-mail: hbaer{at}hsph.harvard.edu
Abstract
Greater body fatness during childhood is associated with reduced risk of premenopausal breast cancer, but few studies have addressed the relation of adiposity with sex hormones in girls. We prospectively examined associations between adiposity and circulating levels of sex hormones and sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) among 286 girls in the Dietary Intervention Study in Children. Participants were 8 to 10 years old at baseline and were followed for an average of 7 years. Anthropometric measurements were taken at baseline and at subsequent annual visits, and blood samples were collected every 2 years. Concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) during follow-up were higher among girls with greater body mass index (BMI) at baseline. The mean for the lowest BMI quartile was 63.0 μg/dL compared with 78.8 μg/dL for the highest quartile, and each kg/m2 increment in baseline BMI was associated with a 4.3% increase (95% confidence interval, 1.6-7.0%) in DHEAS levels during follow-up (Ptrend = 0.002). Concentrations of SHBG during follow-up were lower among girls with greater BMI at baseline. The mean for the lowest BMI quartile was 94.8 nmol compared with 57.5 nmol for the highest quartile, and each kg/m2 increment in baseline BMI was associated with an 8.8% decrease (95% confidence interval, 7.0-10.6%) in SHBG levels during follow-up (Ptrend < 0.0001). Estrogen and progesterone concentrations were similar across BMI quartiles. These findings suggest that adiposity may alter DHEAS and SHBG levels in girls. Whether and how these differences affect breast development and carcinogenesis requires further research. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(9):1880–8)
Footnotes
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Grant support: The Dietary Intervention Study in Children Hormone Ancillary Study was supported by Public Health Service cooperative agreements U01-HL37947, U01-HL37948, U01-HL37954, U01-HL37962, U01-37966, U01-HL37975, and U01-HL38110 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH, Department of Health and Human Services and supplemented by funding from the National Cancer Institute, NIH, Department of Health and Human Services.
Additional support for this analysis was provided by a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (W.C. Willett, Principal Investigator), NIH grant T32 CA 09001-28 (H.J. Baer, trainee), and the American Cancer Society Cissy Hornung Clinical Research Professorship (G.A. Colditz).
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
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- Accepted June 29, 2007.
- Received April 4, 2007.
- Revision received June 18, 2007.
