Body Fat Phenotypes, Sex Hormones and Breast Cancer Risk in Postmenopausal African-American Women

摘要

African-American (AA) women have the highest breast cancer mortality rate in the U.S. Despite reports suggesting that breast cancer in AA women might be a biologically more aggressive disease, AA women, especially postmenopausal AA women, remain one of the least studied populations in this country, with very little known about their sex hormone profile. Recent findings have suggested that body fat distribution may be a better marker for breast cancer risk than degree of obesity. This is a 5-year cross-sectional study to determine the association between body fat phenotypes and sex hormone profile in postmenopausal AA women. For year three, we were able to continue aggressive recruitment strategies to increase the total number of women interested in participating in the study from 459 for year two to 729. This continues to be a very challenging study to undertake, but our study team is undeterred. To date 29 of 50 eligible women have gone through the study protocol. Hormone values for all 29 of these women have already been determined. Results from preliminary analyses of hormone and other data on women who have completed the study protocol are presented in this report.