Beyond Breast Cancer Mammographic Features and Mortality Risk in a Population of Healthy Women.docVIP

Beyond Breast Cancer: Mammographic Features and Mortality Risk in a Population of Healthy Women 1* Rachel A. Murphy , Catherine Schairer 2 2 3 2 , Gretchen L. Gierach , Celia Byrne , Mark E. Sherman , Thomas C. Register , Jingzhong Ding , Stephen B. Kritchevsky , Tamara B. Harris 4 5 5 1 1 Laboratory of Epidemiology, and Population Sciences, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America, 2 Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America, 3 Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America, 4 Sticht Center on Aging, Section on Comparative Medicine Pathology, Radiology, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America, 5 Sticht Center on Aging Section on Gerontology and Geriatrics, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America Abstract Background: Breast fibroglandular (dense) tissue is a risk factor for breast cancer. Beyond breast cancer, little is known regarding the prognostic significance of mammographic features. Methods: We evaluated relationships between nondense (fatty) breast area and dense area with all-cause mortality in 4,245 initially healthy women from the Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration Project; 1,361 died during a mean follow-up of 28.2 years. Dense area and total breast area were assessed using planimeter measurements from screening mammograms. Percent density reflects dense area relative to breast area and nondense area was calculated as the difference between total breast area a