Weight tied to breast cancer

NEW YORK - Reuters

Among women who have been treated for breast cancer, heavier women are more likely to have their disease come back and more likely to die of cancer, according to a U.S. study. Previous studies have tied obesity to a higher chance of getting breast cancer and a worse outcome in women who have already been diagnosed. But the current study makes the post-diagnosis picture clearer, said lead researcher Joseph Sparano. “Obesity seemed to carry a higher risk of breast cancer recurrence and death, even in women who were healthy at the time that they were diagnosed,” he said.

 The relationship with weight may be because certain hormones that are linked to body weight may also fuel tumor growth in the most common form of the disease, known as estrogen receptor-positive cancer.