Mechanisms underlying the effect of adiposity on risk of post-menopausal oestrogen receptor-positive breast…

Cohort studyInternational journal of epidemiology· Jun 2026

Mechanisms underlying the effect of adiposity on risk of post-menopausal oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer: an interventional mediation analysis.

Frances E M Albers, S Ghazaleh Dashti, Christopher T V Swain … Brigid M Lynch

Menopause & Hormone TherapyCohort studyPrognosisQ1IF 5.2

Inflammation, not insulin, is linked to most of obesity's excess breast cancer risk.

Mechanisms underlying the effect of adiposity on risk of post-menopausal oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer: an interventional mediation analysis.

Frances E M Albers … Brigid M Lynch

International journal of epidemiology · Jun 2026 · Q1 in General Medicine

Background

Adiposity increases the risk of post-menopausal oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer.

Methods

The mediation analysis included 1260 post-menopausal females (352 with ER-positive breast cancer) from a case-cohort within the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study.

n = 1260 post-menopausal females

Results

inflammation drives the extra breast cancer cases, insulin does not

RD 16.10 (95% CI 3.30 to 30.40)

CI excludes the null - significant

“

Conclusion · 1 of 2

Inflammation and sex-steroid hormones, but not insulin, contributed to the detrimental effect of adiposity on the risk of post-menopausal ER-positive breast cancer.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Interventions targeting these pathways may reduce the risk for females with obesity.

Mechanisms underlying the effect of adiposity on risk of post-menopausal oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer: an interventional mediation analysis.

Mechanisms underlying the effect of adiposity on risk of post-menopausal oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer: an interventional mediation analysis.

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