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. 2025 Apr 26;23(1):168.
doi: 10.1186/s12957-025-03817-y.

A cross-sectional study of serum lipids, body mass index and age relationships with breast cancer risk

Yuning Hu  1 , Suoping Yang  2
Affiliations

A cross-sectional study of serum lipids, body mass index and age relationships with breast cancer risk

Yuning Hu et al. World J Surg Oncol. .

Abstract

Background: Globally, the most common malignancy in women today is breast cancer. Numerous factors affect the incidence of breast cancer; therefore, we examined the connections involving age, body mass index (BMI), serum lipid levels, and breast cancer risk in women.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytical study. 382 female patients with a breast cancer diagnosis in this study, and 11842 healthy, age-matched females who were selected from physical examination centers in the same period. Univariate analysis was conducted first, after which factors with statistically significant differences were used to construct a multi-factor binary logistic regression equation. We explored associations across different ages, BMI, triglyceride (TG), and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, and breast cancer risk.

Results: Age, BMI, TG, and HDL-C were the risk factors that showed the most significant association with breast cancer. Age, BMI, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and TG levels in the breast cancer group were higher than those in the control group, but HDL-C and total cholesterol (TC) levels were lower. As BMI and TG levels increased, the risk of developing breast cancer increased, and, as HDL-C levels decreased, the risk of developing breast cancer increased. Women aged ≥ 40 years old had an increased breast cancer risk. There were no significant variations in TC and LDL-C levels between groups.

Conclusions: In this study, a lower risk of breast cancer was linked to high HDL-C levels, while a higher risk of breast cancer was linked to high BMI and TG levels. Women aged ≥ 40 years old had an increased breast cancer risk.

Keywords: Age; Body mass index (BMI); Breast cancer; Serum lipids.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical approval: This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Southern Medical University (approval number: 2024-RXK-K-001). Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Comparison box plot showing age, BMI, and serum lipids between breast cancer and control groups
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot showing breast cancer odds ratios (ORs) to age, BMI, TG, and HDL-C. Note: The black dot represents the OR and the error bar represents the 95% confidence interval (95% CI)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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