Circulating steroid hormone levels and risk of breast cancer for postmenopausal women

Abstract

Epidemiologic studies have consistently reported that endogenous steroid hormone levels are associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk, but little is known on the associations by tumor grade, hormone receptor status, or age at diagnosis. We performed a case-cohort study of naturally postmenopausal women within the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study that included a random sample of 857 women and 197 breast cancer cases diagnosed during a mean of 9.2 years of follow-up. Concentrations of total estradiol, estrone sulfate, testosterone, DHEA sulfate, androstenedione, and sex hormone binding globulin were measured in plasma collected at baseline before diagnosis; free estradiol plasma co..