INCIDENCE OF FEMALE BREAST-CANCER IN RELATION TO PREVALENCE OF RISK-FACTORS IN DENMARK

The extent to which changes in prevalence of risk determinants for fem ale breast cancer could explain the temporal variation in incidence wa s examined using incidence figures from Denmark for the years 1943-198 9. Significant increases in incidence were observed for more recent ti me periods and birth cohorts. Using deviance statistics from Poisson r egression measures of variability explained, only a small proportion o f the increase in incidence could be accounted for by fertility rates, average age at menarche and exposure to exogenous hormones. Dietary f actors, on the other hand, accounted for the greater proportion of the variation observed by time period or birth cohort. In particular, the re was a strong positive association of incidence with alcohol consump tion and a negative association with carbohydrate intake. (C) 1994 Wil ey-Liss, Inc.