May 1, 2023 -- Doctors have known for years that dense breast tissue is linked to a higher risk of breast cancer.
A study published last week in JAMA Oncology advances that knowledge, finding that a slower loss of density during aging increases the chances of getting breast cancer. Further, a slower density decline in one breast sometimes precedes a cancer diagnosis in that breast.
The research team from Washington University in St. Louis studied about 10,000 women who were free of breast cancer over 10 years. They said 289 participants developed breast cancer. Their mammograms were compared to those of 658 women who were similar in age and year of enrollment in the study.
All the women showed decreased breast density over time, but those who got cancer had a slower rate of decline in density, compared to the control group.
“This is the first study I’ve seen that looks specifically across time at changes from breast to breast, instead of averaging the two breasts, where you might miss these changes,” Karen Knudsen, PhD, chief executive of the American Cancer Society, told The New York Times.
That information could be used to individualize breast cancer prevention strategies, Graham A. Colditz, MD, deputy director of the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis, told Healio.
“Collecting and evaluating mammographic breast density over time should become a part of standard screening care,” Colditz said. “Further, breast cancer risk models should be refined to include the trajectory of change in density in each breast as a risk indicator beyond just a one-time measure of density.”
In March, the FDA recommended mammogram centers must alert women if they have dense breasts that could put them at increased risk for breast cancer.
