NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jul 30 - A premature menopause, usually due to bilateral oophorectomy, nearly doubles the risk of lung cancer in women, findings in the July 21st online issue of the International Journal of Cancer suggest. There was also evidence that an early natural menopause may increase the risk.
"Most characteristics of menstruation and pregnancy were not associated with lung cancer risk," lead author Dr. Anita Koushik, from the University of Montreal, told Reuters Health. However, she added, a premature menopause was identified as a risk factor, a finding that was unexpected.
Both normal and cancerous lung tissue are known to express estrogen receptors, the report indicates. Only a few studies, however, have looked at the impact of hormone-related factors on lung cancer risk and the results have been inconsistent.
The present case-control study was conducted in Montreal and featured 422 women with lung cancer and 577 without the malignancy.
As noted, most menstruation and pregnancy factors had little or no effect on the risk of lung cancer. Non-natural menopause, however, increased the odds of lung cancer by 1.92-fold.
The results also indicate that women who were younger at menopause were at greater risk for lung cancer than those who were older at menopause.
The findings held true for all levels of smoking and did not vary by lung cancer histology, the researchers report.
Regarding future research, Dr. Koushik commented that "we need to know if this association is real, and if so, how can we explain the association. New studies can address whether the association is related to an early age at menopause, or due to HRT use, or something else."
Int J Cancer 2009.
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