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Abortion and miscarriage do not increase
the risk of breast cancer, according to a Harvard study in Monday's
Archives of Internal Medicine.(File Photo)
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BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Abortion and miscarriage do not increase the
risk of breast cancer, according to a Harvard study in Monday's Archives of
Internal Medicine.
"If you look at the high-quality evidence, it does
not support an association between induced abortions and breast cancer," said
Karin Michels of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in
Boston Monday.
The study also supports earlier findings in 2003 by a
panel of experts from the National Cancer Institute that having an
abortion doesn't increase a woman's risk of getting breast cancer.
What evidence shows in the new study is that
childbearing before the age of 35 reduces a woman's breast cancer risk and
breast-feeding also helps, said the lead author Karin Michels.
Scientists believe breast cells that have gone
through a full-term pregnancy gain protection against cancer, she said.
The study looked at data from 105,716 women
participating in the Nurses' Health Study, which was established in 1976 to
study a wide range of health issues affecting women.
The women, ages 29 to 46 at the start of the study,
were followed for 10 years. Every two years, they were asked about abortions,
miscarriages and new breast cancer diagnoses. The researchers looked at medical
records to confirm the diagnoses.
The researchers found no greater rate of breast
cancer among the women who reported having abortions, compared to the other
women. They saw no greater risk associated with multiple abortions and no
greater risk linked with miscarriages.
"Among this predominantly premenopausal population,
neither induced nor spontaneous abortion was associated with the incidence of
breast cancer; number of abortions, age at abortion, parity (having had a live
baby) status, or timing of abortion with respect to a full-term pregnancy did
not affect the results," Michels said.
(Agencies)
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