(18-10-09) Obesity Trend May Hurt Improvement in Breast Cancer Mortality

By Pat Wechsler

Declines in breast cancer death rates in the U.S. may be threatened by a trend among women toward obesity, a risk factor for the disease, according to a report by the Atlanta-based American Cancer Society.

The mortality rate in the U.S. continued to drop 2 percent annually from 1996 to 2006, the most recent year with data available, according to the report released today.

Women may accelerate that decline by maintaining a healthy body weight, engaging in regular physical activity and minimizing alcohol intake, said Ahmedin Jemal, an epidemiologist with the group and a report co-author.

Failing to adopt that kind of lifestyle ?could hurt progress in breast cancer death rates,? Jemal said in a telephone interview yesterday. ?The obesity trend is going in the wrong direction.?

About 30 percent of people in the U.S. are now obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women who gain 22 pounds or more after menopause face an 18 percent increase in risk for breast cancer, according to a study cited by the cancer society?s report. The chance of getting breast cancer within a decade for women age 50 is about 1 in 42 on average, according to the report.

Fewer women may die from breast cancer if more effort were also made to get uninsured women to have yearly mammograms, Jemal said. While 70 percent of insured women over 40 years old have had a mammogram within the last two years, only 33 percent of uninsured females have had one, he said, citing the report?s statistics.

Opportunity

?We have a tremendous opportunity to improve the numbers if we increase access to mammograms in economically disadvantaged populations,? Jemal said. The mortality rate among African-American women is 38 percent higher than among Caucasian females, according to the report.

Jemal said there is a 98 percent survival rate when the cancer is caught
early with regular mammograms. The drop in mortality rates is attributable to early detection and improved treatment, he said.

?From 1989 to 2006, there has been a 30 percent drop in the death rate from breast cancer,? he said. ?If the rate remained the same, 130,000 more women would have died in these years. I think this progress is huge.?

Overweight and obesity are generally measured by a ratio of height to weight known as the body-mass index. A 5-foot, 5-inch woman is considered overweight at 150 pounds (68 kilograms) and obese at 180 pounds.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pat Wechsler

Source:Bloomberg

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