Reproductive Factors in Relation to Incidence of Lung and Colorectal Cancers in a Cohort of Norwegian Women: The HUNT Study

Marion Denos; Yi-Qian Sun; Ben Michael Brumpton; Arnulf Langhammer; Yue Chen; Xiao-Mei Mai

doi:10.1210/jendso/bvac175

Reproductive Factors in Relation to Incidence of Lung and Colorectal Cancers in a Cohort of Norwegian Women: The HUNT Study

J Endocr Soc. 2022 Nov 12;7(1):bvac175. doi: 10.1210/jendso/bvac175. eCollection 2022 Nov 17.

Authors

Marion Denos¹, Yi-Qian Sun^{2

3

4}, Ben Michael Brumpton^{5

6}, Arnulf Langhammer^{7

8}, Yue Chen⁹, Xiao-Mei Mai¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public Health and Nursing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7030 Trondheim, Norway.
² Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7030 Trondheim, Norway.
³ Department of Pathology, Clinic of Laboratory Medicine, St. Olavs Hospital, 7030 Trondheim, Norway.
⁴ Center for Oral Health Services and Research Mid-Norway (TkMidt), 7030 Trondheim, Norway.
⁵ Department Clinic of Medicine, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, 7030 Trondheim, Norway.
⁶ Department of Public Health and Nursing, K.G. Jebsen Centre for Genetic Epidemiology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7030 Trondheim, Norway.
⁷ Department of Public Health and Nursing, HUNT Research Centre, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7600 Levanger, Norway.
⁸ Department of Levanger Hospital, Nord-Trøndelag Hospital Trust, 7600 Levanger, Norway.
⁹ Faculty of Medicine, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, ON K1G 5Z3 Ottawa, Canada.

Abstract

Context: The roles of reproductive factors in the etiology of lung and colorectal cancers, among the most common cancers in women, are unclear.

Objective: We aimed to explore whether female reproductive factors were associated with the incidence of lung and colorectal cancers.

Methods: We followed up 33 314 cancer-free women who participated in the HUNT Study in Norway from 1995-1997 to 2018. A large panel of reproductive factors were self-reported at baseline. Incident lung and colorectal cancer cases were ascertained from the Cancer Registry of Norway. Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs after adjustment for important confounders.

Results: During a median follow-up interval of 22.2 years, 467 women developed lung cancer (including 169 lung adenocarcinoma), 660 developed colon cancer, and 211 had rectal cancer. Early menarche (≤12 years) was associated with an increased incidence of lung adenocarcinoma (HR 1.43; 95% CI, 1.02-2.03). Women with one or no child had an increased colon cancer incidence (HR 1.26; 95% CI, 1.03-1.54). Hormone therapy appeared to be associated with a decreased incidence of rectal cancer (HR 0.68; 95% CI, 0.44-1.04). Results in the subgroup of postmenopausal women were similar or strengthened. Other reproductive factors were not related to the risk of lung, colon, and rectal cancers.

Conclusion: Certain reproductive factors might play a role in the etiology of lung and colorectal cancers. Further investigations are warranted to study if they are causal associations.

Keywords: HUNT; colorectal cancer; lung cancer; menarche; prospective cohort; reproductive factors.