Obesity and breast cancer: a review of the literature

Summary A woman’s build, the risk of breast cancer and its subsequent prognosis

seem to be related. In most but not all case–control and prospective cohort studies,

an inverse relationship has been found between weight and breast cancer among

premenopausal women. However, most large epidemiological studies have found

that overweight or obese women are at increased risk of developing postmenopausal

breast cancer. It is suggested that higher body mass index is associated with a more

advanced stage of breast cancer at diagnosis in terms of tumour size but data on

lymph node status is not so consistent. All treatment modalities for breast cancer

such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormonal treatment may be

adversely affected by the presence of obesity. The overall and disease-free survival

is worse in most but not all studies of prognosis of obese pre- and postmenopausal wmen with breast cancer.