Variation in the interaction between familial and reproductive factors on the risk of breast cancer according to age, menopausal status, and degree of familiality

Background Studies have found that reproductive factors might have a variab le effect on the occurrence of breast cancer (BC) according to the existenc e or not of a family history of BC. The effect of a family history of BC on the risk of BC may also vary according to the age at diagnosis and the deg ree of kinship. This may confound the relation between familial risk and re productive factors. A combined analysis was performed to study the interact ion between familial risk and reproductive factors according to degree of f amiliality, age at interview and menopausal status. Methods The present analysis included 2948 cases and 4170 controls in seven case-control studies from four countries, The combined relative risks were estimated using a Bayesian random-effects logistic regression model. Results The main effects of reproductive life factors on the risk of BC are in agreement with previous studies. Two-way interactions between subject's age or menopausal status and a family history of BC were not significant. Although the three-way interaction between age, familial risk and parity wa s not significant, familial risk seemed to be increased slightly for women with high parity compared with women with low parity in the older age group , and seemed to be slightly decreased for women with high parity compared w ith women with low parity in younger women. The subject's age also appeared to have an effect on the interaction between familial risk and the age at first childbirth (P = 0.1). Conclusions A possible influence of reproductive and menstrual factors on f amilial risk of BC has been suggested previously and was also evident in th e present study. Three-way interactions between age, family history and par ity or age at first childbirth might exist and they merit further investiga tion.