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Infectious mononucleosis and risk of breast cancer in a prospective study of women

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Abstract

Purpose

The association between infectious mononucleosis (IM) and risk of breast cancer is unclear; no prospective studies have examined this relationship. We examined self-reported history and age at IM in relation to risk of invasive breast cancer.

Methods

Self-reported history and age at IM were examined in relation to risk of invasive breast cancer in a large cohort of women, the Nurses’ Health Study II (81,807 women followed from 1989 to 2007). Through questionnaires, women were asked whether they ever had IM and if so, at what age. During follow-up, 2,349 cases of invasive breast cancer were documented. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate relative risks (RR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for the association of IM with breast cancer.

Results

The multivariable-adjusted RR for history of IM and risk of invasive breast cancer was 1.00 (95 % CI: 0.90–1.11). Similar null results were obtained when estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor positive and negative tumors were considered separately. There were no clear patterns of association between age at IM and risk of breast cancer: compared to women with no history of IM, those who were ≤15 years old when they had IM were at lower risk (RR: 0.77; 95 % CI: 0.60, 0.97), but there was no association for women who had IM at ages 16–19, 20–24, or 30+. However, an increased RR (1.45; 95 % CI: 1.02–2.04) was observed for women who had IM at ages 25–29.

Conclusion

Results of this large prospective study do not support a clear association between history of clinical IM and risk of invasive breast cancer.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by research grant R01 CA50385 from the National Institutes of Health. K.A.B. was supported by the Nutritional Epidemiology of Cancer Education and Career Development Program (R25 CA098566). In addition, we would like to thank the participants and staff of the Nurses’ Health Study II for their valuable contributions as well as the following state cancer registries for their help: AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, NE, NH, NJ, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WY.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 655 Huntington, Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    J. Massa, K. C. Simon, G. Wulf & A. Ascherio

  2. Division of Hematology and Oncology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    A. Hamdan & G. Wulf

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 655 Huntington, Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    K. Bertrand, R. M. Tamimi & A. Ascherio

  4. Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA, USA

    K. C. Simon, K. Bertrand, R. M. Tamimi & A. Ascherio

Authors
  1. J. Massa
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  2. A. Hamdan
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  3. K. C. Simon
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  4. K. Bertrand
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  5. G. Wulf
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  6. R. M. Tamimi
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  7. A. Ascherio
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Correspondence to J. Massa.

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Massa, J., Hamdan, A., Simon, K.C. et al. Infectious mononucleosis and risk of breast cancer in a prospective study of women. Cancer Causes Control 23, 1893–1898 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-0064-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-0064-1

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