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| Monday, 26 September 2005 10:32 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
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Left-handed women face an increased risk of developing breast cancer at an early age, new research published online by the British Medical Journal has revealed.
Researchers in the Netherlands discovered that women who are born left handed may have been exposed to higher levels of sex hormones in the womb and are subsequently twice as likely to be diagnosed with pre-menopausal breast cancer.
The team from University Medical Centre, Utrecht, studied more than 12,000 women born between 1932 and 1941.
The findings were adjusted for risk factors such as body weight, smoking habits, family history and financial status but left-handed women were still found to be 2.41 times more likely to develop breast cancer before the menopause.
It is thought that left-handedness may be induced by exposure to higher levels of oestrogen in the womb and the scientists believe this exposure also increases the risk of cancer.
“Although the underlying mechanisms remain elusive, our results support the hypothesis that left handedness is related to increased risk of breast cancer,” they conclude.
Liz Carroll, head of services at Breast Cancer Care, said: “It is important to remember that the single biggest risk factor for breast cancer is age - 80 per cent of women diagnosed with this disease are over 50.”
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