Diet-Driven Inflammation and Insulinemia and Risk of Interval Breast Cancer

Abstract

Interval breast cancers (IBCs) emerge after a non-suspicious mammogram and before the patient’s next scheduled screen. Risk factors associated with IBC have not been identified. This study evaluated if the empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP) or empirical dietary index for hyperinsulinemia (EDIH) scores are associated with IBC compared to screen-detected breast cancer. Data were from women 50–79 years-old in the Women’s Health Initiative cohort who completed food frequency questionnaires at baseline (1993–98) and were followed through March 31, 2019 for breast cancer detection. Women were identified as having either IBC diagnosed within 1-year after their last negative screening mammogram (N = 317) or screen-detected breast cancer (N = 1,928). Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression analyses were used to estimate odds ratios for risk of IBC compared to screen-detected cancer in dietary index tertiles. No associations were observed between EDIP or EDIH and IBC. Odds ratios comparing the highest to the lowest dietary index tertile were 1.08; 95%CI, 0.78–1.48 for EDIP and 0.92; 95%CI, 0.67–1.27 for EDIH. The null associations persisted when stratified by BMI categories. Findings suggest that diet-driven inflammation or insulinemia may not be substantially associated with IBC risk among postmenopausal women. Future studies are warranted to identify modifiable factors for IBC prevention.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by funding from the Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research (CEDAR) center at Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute (Z. Zhang, S. Jindal, and P. Schedin), the National Institute of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women’s Health and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development K12HD043488 (Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health, BIRCWH) (Z. Zhang). C.I. Valencia was supported by NCI R01CA253302-02S1. The WHI program is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through contracts HHSN268201600018C, HHSN268201600001C, HHSN268201600002C, HHSN268201600003C, and HHSN268201600004C.

This work was funded by National Cancer Institute.