Late age at first child birth as a risk factor of breast cancer among Ugandan women at Mulago Hospital: A case control study.

Abstract

Background Breast Cancer in Uganda is the third commonest cancer in women after cancer of the cervix and Kaposis sarcoma. The incidence of Breast Cancer in Uganda has nearly tripled from 11:100,000 in 1961 to 31:100,000 in 2006. It has been considered a neglected disease but the reasons to why there is an increase in its incidence have not been fully explained. Among these are risk factors associated with the development of breast cancer. Studies show that late age at first full term child birth has been associated with risk of developing breast cancer in the Caucasian population. Objective The study was conducted to establish whether late age at first full term child birth is associated with development of breast cancer among Ugandan women seen in Mulago Hospital. Method A case control study was conducted in a six month period from November 2011 –April 2012 p with patients confirmed with breast cancer as cases and those without breast cancer by clinical breast examination as controls. The sampling was convenient and interview questionnaire was administered, clinical breast examination done .The main predictor was late age at first full term child birth and the outcome was confirmed breast cancer. Data was analysed using stata 10.1 using logistic regression models, p value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results No association was found between late age at first full term child birth and risk of breast cancer. Conclusion. This study suggests that there is no association between late age at first full term child birth and risk of breast cancer.