Abstract
Breast cancer laterality was studied in relation to age in 80,784 cases of invasive and 3,835 cases of pre-invasive breast cancer in women and 548 cases of invasive breast cancer in men reported to the Swedish Cancer Registry, 1970–89. In a subset of 11,274 women with invasive disease, data on parity were available through the Swedish Fertility Registry. Laterality also was evaluated in relation to age and reproductive variables in 3,986 cases from an international study from the 1960s. The overall incidence of pre-invasive and invasive cancer was higher in the left than in the right breast among both women and men. The excess incidence of invasive cancer in the left breast was evident only after the age of 45 years in women; a similar phenomenon may exist with pre-invasive disease in women and in men. The age-dependent laterality pattern did not appear to be confounded by menopausal status. Among women younger than 45 years, nulliparity, right handedness, and late age at menarche was associated with a somewhat higher incidence of cancer in the right breast. The laterality findings are likely to be due to factors operating early in the carcinogenic process, perhaps at the pre-initiation stage.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Busk T, Clemmesen J. The frequencies of left- and right-sided breast cancer.Br J Cancer 1947;1: 345–51.
Nohrman BA. Cancer of the breast: a clinical study of 1,042 cases treated at Radiumhemmet, 1936–1941.Acta Radiologica 1949;Suppl 77: 1–98.
Smithers DW, Rigby-Jones P, Galton DAG, Payne PM. Cancer of the breast. A review.Brit J Radiol 1952;Suppl 4: i–xiii, 1–90.
Dorn HF, Cutler SJ.Morbidity from Cancer in the United States. Washington, DC: Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service 1955;Pub Health Monogr No. 29.
Garfinkel L, Craig L, Seidman H. An appraisal of left and right breast cancer.JNCI 1959;23: 617–31.
Melnik Y, Slater PE, Steinitz R, Davies AM. Breast cancer in Israel: laterality and survival.J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 1979;95: 291–3.
Blot W, Fraumeni JF Jr Young J. Left-sided breast cancer.Lancet 1977;ii: 762–3.
Senie RT, Rosen PP, Lesser ML, Snyder RE, Schottenfeld D, Duthie K. Epidemiology of breast carcinoma II: Factors related to the predominance of left-sided disease.Cancer 1980;46: 1705–13.
Howard J, Petrakis NL, Bross IDJ, Whittemore AS. Handedness and breast cancer lateraliy: Testing a hypothesis.Hum Biol 1982;2: 365–71.
Kramer SMA, Albrecht S, Miller RA. Higher frequency of left-breast cancer: A possible explanation.Percept Mot Skills 1985;61: 583–8.
Tulinius H, Bjarnason O, Sigvaldason H, Bjarnadottir G, Olafsdottir G. Tumours in Iceland. 10. Malignant tumours of the female breast. A histological classification, laterality, survival and epidemiological considerations.APMIS 1988;96: 329–38.
Tulinius H, Sigvaldason H, Olafsdottir G. Left and right sided breast cancer.Path Res Pract 1990;186: 92–4.
Kelsey JL, Hildreth NG.Breast and Gynecologic Cancer Epidemiology. Boca Raton, FL (USA): CRC Press Inc, 1983.
Schaeffer JP, ed.Morris' Human Anatomy, 11th ed. New York, NY (USA) McGraw-Hill, 1953: 82.
Gray HAnatomy, Descriptive and Surgical. Reprinted: Pick TP, Howden R, eds. Philadelphia, PA (USA): Running Press, 1974: 1038.
Adami HO, Rimsten Å. Adipose tissue and aetiology of breast cancer.Lancet 1978;ii: 677–8.
Katariya RN, Forrest APM, Gravelle IH. Breast volumes in cancer of the breast.Br J Cancer 1974;29: 270–3.
Hsieh C-c, Trichopoulos D. Breast size, handedness and breast cancer risk.Eur J Cancer 1991;27: 131–5.
Senie RT, Saftlas AF, Brinton LA, Hoover RN. Is breast size a predictor of breast cancer risk or the laterality of the tumor?Cancer Causes Control 1993;4: 203–8.
Trichopoulos D, Lipman RD. Mammary gland mass and breast cancer risk.Epidemiology 1992;3: 523–6.
MacMahon B, Lin TM, Lower CR, et al. Lactation and cancer of the breast.Bull WHO 1970;42: 185–94.
MacMahon B, Cole P, Lin TM, et al. Age at first birth and breast cancer risk.Bull WHO 1970;43: 209–21.
Hsieh C-c, Trichopoulos D, Katsouyanni K, Yuasa S. Age at menarche, age at menopause, height and obesity as risk factors for breast cancer: associations and interactions in an international case-control study.Int J Cancer 1990;46: 796–800.
Center for Epidemiology.Cancer incidence in Sweden 1989. Stockholm, Sweden: Centre for Epidemiology, 1992.
Mattsson B, Wallgren A. Completeness of the Swedish cancer register non-notified cancer cases on death certificates in 1978.Acta Radiol Oncol 1984;23: 305–13.
World Health Organization.International Classification of Diseases, Seventh Revision. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO, 1957.
Johansson L, Finnas F. Fertility of Swedish women born 1927–1960. Stockholm, Sweden.Statistics Sweden 1983; Urval nr 14.
Lambe M, Trichopoulos D, Hsieh C-c, Ekbom A, Adami HO, Pavia M. Parity and cancers of the gall bladder and the extrahepatic bile ducts.Int J Cancer 1993;54: 941–4.
Cancer Environmental Register −70. Stockholm, Sweden. National Board of Health and Welfare, 1990; SOS Rapport 1989; 19.
Statistics Sweden.Census of the Population in 1960. IV. Population in Different Divisions, Aliens etc. Stockholm, Sweden: Statistics Sweden; 1962.
Hammar M, Berg G, Fåhraeus L, LarssonCohn U. Climacteric symptoms in an unselected sample of Swedish women.Maturitas 1984;6: 345–50.
Garson A Jr.The Science and Practice of Pediatric Cardiology. Vol I. Bricker JT, McNamara DG (eds). Philadelphia, PA (USA): Lea & Febiger, 1990: 904.
Ekbom A, Trichopoulos D, Adami HO, Hsieh C-c, Lan SJ. Evidence of prenatal influences on breast cancer risk.Lancet 1992;340: 1015–8.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by grants from the Swedish Cancer
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ekbom, A., Adami, HO., Trichopoulos, D. et al. Epidemiologic correlates of breast cancer laterality (Sweden). Cancer Causes Control 5, 510–516 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01831378
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01831378