Mammographic density and ageing: A collaborative pooled analysis of cross-sectional data from 22 countries worldwide.
Anya BurtonGertraud MaskarinecBeatriz Perez-GomezCeline VachonHui MiaoMartín LajousRuy López-RidauraMegan RiceAna PereiraMaria Luisa GarmendiaRulla M TamimiKimberly BertrandAva KwongGiske UrsinEunjung LeeSamera A QureshiHuiyan MaSarah VinnicombeSue MossSteve AllenRose NdumiaSudhir VinayakSoo-Hwang TeoShivaani MariapunFarhana FadzliBeata PepłońskaAgnieszka BukowskaChisato NagataJennifer StoneJohn L HopperGraham G GilesVahit OzmenMustafa Erkin AribalJoachim SchüzCarla Henrica van GilsJohanna O P WandersReza SirousMehri SirousJohn HipwellJisun KimJong Won LeeCaroline DickensMikael HartmanKee-Seng ChiaChristopher G ScottAnna M ChiarelliLinda LintonMarina PollanAnath Arzee FlugelmanDorria SalemRasha KamalNorman BoydIsabel Dos-Santos-SilvaValerie McCormackPublished in: PLoS medicine (2017)
Declines in MD with increasing age are present premenopausally, continue postmenopausally, and are most pronounced over the menopausal transition. These effects were highly consistent across diverse groups of women worldwide, suggesting that they result from an intrinsic biological, likely hormonal, mechanism common to women. If cumulative breast density is a key determinant of breast cancer risk, younger ages may be the more critical periods for lifestyle modifications aimed at breast density and breast cancer risk reduction.