Lifestyle and environmental factors in women carrying BRCA pathogenic variants with and without cancer

Abstract

Background In the development of breast cancer and ovarian cancer there may be an influence of lifestyle and environmental factors. This influence could be relevant also in patients with genetic predisposition such as in carriers of germline pathogenic variants in the BRCA genes. However, this issue has been addressed in only a few studies so far. Methods In this retrospective, multicenter case-control study, we enrolled participants with a pathogenic variant BRCA gene and divided into 2 groups: group 1, patients with breast cancer and/or ovarian cancer, and group 2, subjects without cancer. We compared these groups regarding demographic data as age, body mass index, smoking habits, estroprogestinic use, Mediterranean diet, and physical activity. Multivariable analyses were used to identify predisposing factors. All evaluations were 2-tailed and considered statistically significant if the P valuewas less than .05. Results We enrolled 281 participants, 135 (79.4%) with breast cancer, 32 (18.8%) with ovarian cancer, 3 (1.8%) with both, and 111 unaffected (39.5%) women. Independent risk factors associated with cancer were age (P