Associations between obesity, smoking and lymph node status at breast cancer diagnosis in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial

INTRODUCTION: There is evidence suggesting that smoking and obesity prior to a breast cancer diagnosis is associated with poorer outcomes. In this study, we investigate the associations between smoking and obesity prior to a breast cancer diagnosis and the presence of lymph node metastases at diagnosis. METHODS: Women with stage I-III breast cancer (n = 3,304) were identified from the National Cancer Institute's Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. Univariable and multivariable log-binomial models were used to estimate relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between lymph node positive breast cancer and; i) smoking, and ii) obesity prior to diagnosis. RESULTS: Pre-diagnostic smoking/obesity was not associated with lymph node metastasis at diagnosis in multivariable analyses; (RR 0.82, 95%CI 0.61, 1.10) and (RR 0.95, 95% CI 0.81, 1.12), respectively. CONCLUSION: Obesity and smoking information was recorded a number of years prior to breast cancer diagnosis, therefore these findings should to be replicated in a larger cohort of women, with more detailed smoking and obesity information.