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Left Hand Link to Risk of Breast Cancer

Posted on: Monday, 26 September 2005, 06:00 CDT

THE chance of left-handed women getting breast cancer is more than double the risk right-handers face, researchers say.

A study found left-handers were 2.4 times more likely to be diagnosed with the disease before the age of 50.

The Dutch research involved 12,000 women born in the 1930s and took account of social and economic differences, smoking habits and family health history.

Cuno Uiterwaal, of University Medical Center Utrecht, said the cause may be exposure to higher levels of sex hormones, such as oestrogen, before birth.

He added: "This is supported by data which shows a higher prevalence of left-handedness in women with high exposures to female sex hormones."

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, is the biggest carried out into the link between which hand women use and breast cancer It also found that being left-handed had no effect on the risk of developing breast cancer after the age of 50.

Scientists have also found that cancer is more common in the left breast, because it is usually slightly larger.

Scotland has the highest rate of breast cancer in the UK - 117 per 100,000 compared to the UK average of 114.

It is the most common cancer among Scots women and one in nine will develop it during their lifetime.

It accounts for one in four cancers in Scotland and about 3600 women are diagnosed with the disease every year.

However, better treatments and earlier detection mean more Scots women are surviving than ever before

Source: Daily Record; Glasgow (UK)

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