‘Surprising’ findings
It’s “surprising that these lifestyle changes lowered the risk of breast cancer,” said Charles Shapiro, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, who was not involved in this study.
The study “requires replication,” he said. “On the other hand, these lifestyle changes promote overall health and certainly are associated with decreased risks of cardiovascular disease, the number one killer of women.”
“Patients always want to know what they can do above and beyond screening mammograms to reduce their risk of developing breast cancer,” said William Gradishar, MD, of Northwestern University in Chicago, who was not involved in the study.
“These data should empower patients that they can impact on their overall health and reduce the risk of developing breast cancer,” he said.
Among the study’s limitations, it’s unclear how the findings apply to nonwhite, nonpostmenopausal women, and the analysis did not differentiate between breast cancer subtypes.
In addition, although oral contraceptives have been linked to breast cancer in the past, there was no association in this study. Possible explanations could be that the investigators did not take into account duration of use, age of last use, and type or oral contraceptive used, they noted.
This research was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, the Alan Turing Institute, and a Cancer Research UK Integrated Cancer Epidemiology Programme grant. The investigators, Dr. Gradishar, and Dr. Shapiro have no relevant disclosures.
SOURCE: Al Ajmi K et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(4):e203760.