 Measuring a woman’s bone mineral density can provide additional information that may help more accurately determine her risk of developing breast cancer. This is the conclusion of a new study published by Dr. Zhao Chen and colleagues in the September 1, 2008 issue of Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Dr. Chen is a member of the faculty at The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. The study’s results suggest that incorporating bone mineral density tests with current risk assessment tools might improve physicians’ ability to predict breast cancer risk in older, postmenopausal women. This study is the first to investigate the relationships among bone mineral density, traditional breast cancer risk assessment tool results, and breast cancer incidence among the same group of women.
Bone Mineral Density
Bone mineral density testing is used to diagnose osteoporosis, a disease in which the bones are weakened, and to help assess the risk of fractures. Low bone mineral density is linked to higher risk of fractures, while normal density is linked to lower risk of fractures. Bone density is usually measured in the hip and spine. It is possible that factors that lead to higher bone mineral density over a woman’s lifetime, such as higher estrogen levels, can also lead to higher risk of breast cancer. Studies have found an association between higher bone mineral density and higher breast cancer risk, and bone mineral density tests have been proposed as a potential addition to breast cancer risk models.
Image credits: The University of Washington.
- The University of Arizona Healthy Aging Laboratory. Dr. Zhao Chen is the director of this facility,
where MEZCOPH faculty strive to promote healthy aging and reduce health disparities in older adults from different racial and ethnic backgrounds through innovative biomedical research. Ongoing studies in the lab focus on osteoporosis (low bone mass and high fracture risk), sarcopenia (low skeletal muscle mass and strength), and anemia (low hemoglobin level) across different groups of older women.
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