Older women carrying excess weight have a higher risk of a life-threatening double-whammy, a new study says. Women past menopause with a higher body mass index were more likely to develop breast cancer if they had heart disease, researchers reported Monday in the journal Cancer. BMI is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight.
Women with heart disease had a 31% increased risk of breast cancer for every 5-point increase in their BMI, results show.
By comparison, women without heart problems had a 13% increased risk for every 5-point BMI increase, results show.
"This suggests that among postmenopausal women with cardiovascular disease, prevention of obesity may lead to a greater reduction in breast cancer incidence compared to the general population," concluded the research team led by Heinz Freisling, a scientist of nutrition and metabolism with the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
