Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

No Breast Cancer Increase in Women w/ Schizophrenia

Some studies in the past have found that women with schizophrenia have higher rates of breast cancer. But these results were questioned by a Danish study that looked at the confounding factors that may have caused this result. One of the main variables that should have been controlled for in past studies was birth rates. Having children before the age of 30 has been found to reduce one's chance of developing breast cancer.

Breast cancer risk was examined in 1,336,313 Danish women of which 7,541 were hospitalized for schizophrenia. "The researchers found that, after adjusting for age, period, age at first birth, and number of births, the overall relative risk of breast cancer was 0.91. However, at the age of 40 years, 41% of the women with schizophrenia had never given birth, compared with 10% of those without the disorder. The team notes that, for these nulliparous schizophrenic women, the relative risk of breast cancer was 1.05, while stratification for parity gave a relative risk of 0.75" (PsychiatryMatters.MD).

Women with schizophrenia probably have higher rates of schizophrenia due to their fertility patterns. Once this was controlled for there was no increase in levels of breast cancer in the women with schizophrenia. The researchers in this study suggest that others attempt to replicate their findings in the future.

Original Source: No breast cancer risk increase with schizophrenia. PsychiatryMatters.MD. 2005.