Sedentary time and breast cancer risk in the Sister Study Cohort.

Background: Previous research investigating sedentary behavior and breast cancer (BC) risk has shown mixed results. We investigated the association between sedentary time and BC incidence overall and by time-dependent menopausal status.

Methods: The Sister Study recruited 50,884 women from all 50 states and Puerto Rico aged 35-74 years who had not been diagnosed with BC but had at least one affected sister.

Association Between Body Iron Status and Biological Aging.

Background/objectives: Iron is necessary for bodily function, but abnormal levels can increase the risk of chronic diseases. Studies of leukocyte telomere length suggest blood iron levels are positively associated with cellular senescence and accelerated aging. However, associations between blood iron and more robust metrics of biological aging, specifically those based on DNA methylation, have not been examined.

Association between two common SNPs, rs6564851 and rs6420424, and lutein and zeaxanthin levels in a cohort of US postmenopausal women with a family history of breast cancer.

A better understanding of the factors contributing to systemic concentrations of carotenoids is necessary given the weak correlations between circulating levels and dietary intake of carotenoids. Although genetic variation may play a key role in the interindividual variability in carotenoid concentrations, few genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have focused on carotenoids. We used a random sample ( = 519) of postmenopausal participants in the Sister Study with data on genotypes and plasma carotenoid levels to conduct GWAS for each of five carotenoids (mcg/mL): alpha-carotene, beta- carotene, cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and lutein/zeaxanthin.

Assessment of iron status.

Purpose Of Review: Iron is an essential trace element in human health that can be harmful at abnormal levels such as iron overload or deficiency. Measured iron status in the body can depend on health outcomes experienced by the individual and this can complicate its accurate assessment. This review will highlight recent research on iron assessment in the literature.

BMI and breast cancer risk around age at menopause.

Background: A high body mass index (BMI, kg/m) is associated with decreased risk of breast cancer before menopause, but increased risk after menopause. Exactly when this reversal occurs in relation to menopause is unclear. Locating that change point could provide insight into the role of adiposity in breast cancer etiology.

Associations Between Serum Iron Biomarkers and Breast Cancer Tumor Size.

Unlabelled: Excess iron has been shown to promote tumor growth in animals whereas iron deficiency has been associated with reduced or slowed tumor growth. The objective of this analysis was to estimate the associations between serum iron biomarkers and tumor size at diagnosis and metastatic status in a sample of breast cancer cases from the Sister Study.The analytic sample included 2,494 incident breast cancer cases with information on tumor size and iron biomarkers, including serum iron (mcg/dL), ferritin (mcg/dL), and percent transferrin saturation, measured in serum collected at baseline.

Development and validation of a prediction model for iron status in a large U.S. cohort of women.

Serum iron levels can be important contributors to health outcomes, but it is not often feasible to rely on blood-based measures for a large epidemiologic study. Predictive models that use questionnaire-based factors such as diet, supplement use, recency of blood donation, and medical conditions could potentially provide a noninvasive alternative for studying health effects associated with iron status. We hypothesized that a model based on questionnaire data could predict blood-based measures of iron status biomarkers.

Seasonal patterns in trace elements assessed in toenails.

Seasonal patterns in measured exposure biomarkers can cause measurement error in epidemiological studies. There is little known about the seasonality of trace elements when measured in toenails. Adjusting for such patterns when estimating associations between long-term exposures and health outcomes could be needed to improve precision and reduce bias.

Infant Growth Trajectories and Lipid Levels in Adolescence: Evidence From a Chilean Infancy Cohort.

Growth in early infancy is hypothesized to affect chronic disease risk factors later in life. To date, most reports draw on European-ancestry cohorts with few repeated observations in early infancy. We investigated the association between infant growth before 6 months and lipid levels in adolescents in a Hispanic/Latino cohort.

Does This Adult Patient Have Hypertension?: The Rational Clinical Examination Systematic Review.

Importance: Office blood pressure (BP) measurements are not the most accurate method to diagnose hypertension. Home BP monitoring (HBPM) and 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) are out-of-office alternatives, and ABPM is considered the reference standard for BP assessment.

Objective: To systematically review the accuracy of oscillometric office and home BP measurement methods for correctly classifying adults as having hypertension, defined using ABPM.

Association Between Serum Iron Biomarkers and Breast Cancer.

Background: Iron is both essential to life and potentially toxic at higher levels. Epidemiologic studies of iron and breast cancer are sparse, with substantial heterogeneity found in a recent meta-analysis. Evidence based on a comprehensive set of iron biomarkers and a large sample size could help clarify relationships between iron body stores and breast cancer risk.

Evidence for familial clustering in breast cancer age of onset.

Background: Familial clustering of age at onset would have implications for both personalized screening and aetiology, but has not been studied for breast cancer.

Methods: We prospectively studied a cohort of 23 145 sisters to explore whether their breast cancer risk changed near the age at diagnosis of a previously affected older sister. Using an age-time-dependent variable in a Cox regression model, we estimated hazard ratios for breast cancer when participants were near their sister's diagnosis age, relative to similarly aged women whose sister was diagnosed at a very different age.

Sociodemographic predictors of early postnatal growth: evidence from a Chilean infancy cohort.

Objectives: Infant anthropometric growth varies across socioeconomic factors, including maternal education and income, and may serve as an indicator of environmental influences in early life with long-term health consequences. Previous research has identified sociodemographic gradients in growth with a focus on the first year and beyond, but estimates are sparse for growth before 6 months. Thus, our objective was to examine the relationship between sociodemographic factors and infant growth patterns between birth and 5 months of age.

The perils of standardizing infant weight to assess weight change differences across exposure groups.

Purpose: When conducting analyses of child weight growth trajectories, researchers commonly use Z-scores from a standard instead of the observed weights. However, these Z-scores, calculated from cross-sectional data, may introduce methodological limitations when used in the context of longitudinal analyses. We assessed analytic limitations when analyzing infant growth data with three anthropometric measures: weight and the corresponding Z-scores and percentiles from a standard.

Psychosocial factors associated with bulimia nervosa during pregnancy: An internal validation study.

Objective: The aim of this paper was to internally validate previously reported relations (Knoph Berg et al., Aust N Z J Psychiatry, 42, 396-404, 2008) between psychosocial factors and bulimia nervosa (BN) outcomes during pregnancy.

Method: This study is based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

The association between internet and television access and disordered eating in a Chinese sample.

Objective: China has historically reported a low prevalence of eating disorders. However, the rapid social and economic development of this country as well as Western ideals widely disseminated by television and the Internet have led to distinct patterns of behavioral choices that could affect eating disorder risk. Thus, the current study explored the relation between disordered eating and media use.

Gestational and postpartum weight change patterns in mothers with eating disorders.

Background: Although pregnancy can be associated with adaptive changes in weight and eating behaviour for women with eating disorders, less is known about whether these changes are maintained in the postpartum period. We used a longitudinal design to examine gestational and postpartum weight trajectories in mothers with and without eating disorders in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Methods: Fifty-six women reported anorexia nervosa (AN), 636 bulimia nervosa, 3327 binge eating disorder and 69 eating disorder not otherwise specified, purging type.

Developmental trajectories of postpartum weight 3 years after birth: Norwegian Mother And Child Cohort study.

This study explored the developmental trajectories of postpartum weight from 0.5 to 3 years after childbirth, and aimed to determine the associations between postpartum weight trajectories and prepregnancy body mass index and adequacy of gestational weight gain (GWG). Data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort study were used, following 49,528 mothers 0.

Childhood anxiety trajectories and adolescent disordered eating: findings from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development.

Objective: The goal of the present article was to examine whether childhood anxiety trajectories predict eating psychopathology. We predicted that girls with trajectories of increasing anxiety across childhood would have significantly greater risk of disordered eating in adolescence in comparison to girls with stable or decreasing trajectories of anxiety over childhood.

Method: Data were collected as part of the prospective longitudinal NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 450 girls).

Weight-for-length trajectories in the first year of life in children of mothers with eating disorders in a large Norwegian Cohort.

Objective: To describe weight-for-length (WFL) trajectories in the children (birth-12 months) of mothers with and without eating disorders.

Method: This study is based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. We categorized women (N = 57,185) based on diagnosis prior to and during pregnancy: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, eating disorder not otherwise specified-purging subtype, binge eating disorder, or no eating disorder.

Eating Disorders, Pregnancy, and the Postpartum Period: Findings from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).

This review summarizes studies on eating disorders in pregnancy and the postpartum period that have been conducted as part of the broader Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Prior to the 2000s, empirical literature on eating disorders in pregnancy was sparse and consisted mostly of studies in small clinical samples. MoBa has contributed to a new era of research by making population-based and large-sample research possible.

Binge eating and menstrual dysfunction.

Objective: The relation between eating disorders and menstrual function has been widely studied, but it is unknown whether the behavior of binge eating itself is related to menstrual dysfunction.

Methods: The 11,503 women included in this study were from the Swedish Twin study of Adults: Genes and Environment. The associations between menstrual dysfunction and binge eating were analyzed using logistic regression or multiple linear regression models with generalized estimation equations.

Binge eating, body mass index, and gastrointestinal symptoms.

Objective: Symptoms of both gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are frequently reported by individuals who binge eat. Higher body mass index (BMI) has also been associated with these disorders and with binge eating (BE). However, it is unknown whether BE influences GERD/IBS and how BMI might affect these associations.