Bras and Breast Cancer Risk

In news you might not have been sure you were waiting for, researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have put to rest the question of whether bra-wearing increases breast cancer risk for postmenopausal women. The study results were published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Lu Chen, Fred Hutch researcher and University of Washington School of Public Health doctoral student, says that the bra wearing came up as one possible theory as to why breast cancer is more common in developed countries, since bra wearing patterns differ in developing countries. Researchers studied 1044 women with the two most common subtypes of breast cancer, invasive ductal carcinoma and invasive lobular carcinoma, and 469 women without breast cancer, and found that there was no evidence for an increased risk for breast cancer in bra wearers—with or without underwire, the age the women began wearing a bra, or how many hours per day they wore them.