The impact of historical breastfeeding practices on the incidence of cancer in France in 2015.
Shield KD., Dossus L., Fournier A., Marant Micallef C., Rinaldi S., Rogel A., Heard I., Pilleron S., Bray F., Soerjomataram I.
PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to estimate the number of new breast cancer cases in France in 2015 attributable to breastfeeding for durations below recommendations (at least 6 months per child), and cases prevented through historical breastfeeding. As a secondary analysis, the corresponding numbers for ovarian cancer were estimated. METHODS: Historical breastfeeding data were obtained from population surveys. Duration of breastfeeding data were obtained from the French Épifane cohort study. Relative risks were obtained from meta-analyses, cohort, and case-control studies. Cancer incidence data were obtained from the French Network of Cancer Registries. A 10-year latency period was assumed. RESULTS: Among parous women 25 years of age and older, 14.1% breastfed for at least 6 months per child born before 2006. As a result, 1,712 new breast cancer cases (3.2% of all new breast cancer cases) were attributable to breastfeeding for