Case-control study of risk factors for breast cancer in Nigerian women

This study evaluated the potential risk factors for breast cancer in Nigerian women using a case-control design of 250 women with breast cancer and their age-matched female controls. Both cases and controls were recruited from 4 University Teaching Hospitals in Midwestern and Southeastern Nigeria. Data on the clinical and epidemiological characteristics were collected using interviewer-administered structured questionnaires. The mean age of the cases and controls were 46.1 and 47.1 years, respectively. Fifty-seven percent of the cases were premenopausal while 43% were post-menopausal. The association of risk factors with breast cancer was assessed using conditional logistic regression. Positive family history of breast cancer in first- and second-degree relatives (Odds ratio [OR] = 8.07, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.003, 64.95, p = 0.04), education of high school level and above (OR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.04, 1.74, p = 0.0205), age at first fullterm pregnancy (FFTP) greater than 20 years (OR = 1.32 95% CI 1.01, 1.71, p = 0.0413) and waist/hip ratio (WHR) (OR = 1.98, 95% CI 1.27, 3.10, p = 0.0026) were associated with increased risk of breast cancer in the final multiple conditional logistic regression model. The findings from this study have shown that sociodemographic characteristics, reproductive variables and anthropometric measures are significant predictors of breast cancer risk in Nigerian women. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.