Epidemiologic Cohort Study of Diet and Life-Style Factors Among Hawaiian-American Women with Breast Cancer in Hawaii

摘要

This is a cohort study of American women of Hawaiian ancestry who have one of the highest incidence rates of breast cancer in the world. It is designed to see if type of dietary fat, specific sources of dietary fat, and alcohol use enhance breast cancer risk, and to determine if micronutrients and dietary fiber reduce risk. The study is progressing reasonably well. It has recruited 8147 Hawaiian women who returned a 26-page mail questionnaire. The surveillance of these women to identify incident cases of breast cancer is being done by the Hawaii Tumor Registry, which belongs to the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program. Thus far, 122 incident cases of breast cancer have been identified in this cohort. Preliminary results suggest the following: (1) early menopause may decrease breast cancer risk; (2) late childbirth may increase risk; (3) menopausal estrogens may increase risk; (4) alcohol intake may increase risk; (5) high dietary fat may increase risk; and (6) high dietary fiber and beta-carotene consumers may have a decreased risk.