Researchers say young survivors of breast cancer do not appear to increase their risk of death by starting or adding to families after diagnosis. According to a study published in the journal Cancer, women who had children at least ten months after a diagnosis of breast cancer were no more likely to die than those who did not.

Confirming previous studies from other countries, collaborative data from three regions including Seattle, Los Angeles, and Detroit, Mueller et al. of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center say their study, "may help provide some reassurance to young women with breast cancer that subsequent childbearing is unlikely to increase their risk of mortality."

For young women with breast cancer and their families, the question of whether starting or adding to a family after treatment is complicated by concerns that hormonal effects of pregnancy may increase the risk of death.

Recent epidemiological studies suggest there is no increased risk of death associated with childbirth among women with breast cancer. However, most studies have not evaluated relative mortality among women with different clinical or demographic characteristics. The authors of the new report compared mortality rates among 438 women <45 years old with breast cancer who had children after their diagnosis and 2775 women <45 years old with breast cancer who did not have children after their diagnosis. The median follow-up time for women after delivery ranged from about four to nine years.

Women who had children 10 or more months after their diagnosis actually had a decreased risk of death compared to women who did not have subsequent children. The authors acknowledge, however, that the results "should not be taken as indicative of a true pregnancy- or birth-associated protective affect on survival", due the possibility of a "healthy mother" bias.

Increased risk of mortality was observed, however, among subgroups of women who were pregnant at diagnosis including those who delivered within three months of their diagnosis, those 35 years of age or older at diagnosis, and those with certain disease characteristics.

The authors conclude, "Our finding of a decreased risk of mortality associated with a birth occurring 10 months after diagnosis is similar to findings of record linkage studies conducted in Finland and Denmark."

SOURCE:
Cancer, September 15, 2003